Publisher: She Writes Press

ISBN: 978-1647420321

“It isn't supposed to be this way-- even if we were unhappy. Maybe I sometimes wanted out of my marriage. Maybe, when David had stepped over the kids' toys without thinking to pick them up once too often (after sleeping in as I got the kids ready while preparing for work), I even fantasized about divorce—I could be free. That thought usually lasted for about ten seconds.”

An unflinching memoir that leaves nothing out. Crash: How I Became A Reluctant Caregiver, by Rachel Michelberg is a story that not every author would have the guts to tell. 

As a young mother of two, Rachel and her husband seemingly had it all. But in reality, their marriage was falling apart and Rachel had begun seeing another man on the side. That is, until her husband suffered severe brain damage in a plane crash over a California vineyard. 

All of the sudden, Rachel went from working, taking care of her children and volunteering at her local synagogue, to hospitals, wheelchairs and waiting rooms.

The shift in her daily routine was seismic, the kind of horrific accident that we all dread happening to a loved one. Rachel didn't even know if she wanted the burden of caring for a man that she wasn't sure that she loved anymore. 

Reading this memoir, I was struck by Rachel's honesty and her realness. I think this is the kind of book that a lot of people are going to find heavily relatable.

How many of us can say we would have the strength to provide round the clock care to a loved one that had been in an accident? And how many people who are currently acting as home caregivers don't have moments that they wish everything was different? 

This book definitely made me look at my own struggles in an entirely new light. 

About Rachel Michelberg

Rachel Michelberg grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and still enjoys living there with her husband, Richard, and their two dogs, Nala and Beenie. She earned her Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance from San Jose State University and has performed leading roles in musicals and opera from Carmen to My Fair Lady as well as the part of the Mother Abbess (three times!) in The Sound of Music.

When Rachel isn’t working with one of her twenty voice and piano students, she loves gardening, hiking, and making her own bone broth. CRASH: How I Became a Reluctant Caregiver is her first book.