I’ve just finished a wonderful memoir by a Unitarian Universalist minister, Kate Braestrup. Its title is Here If You Need Me. Kate is a Community Minister who works as the first-ever Chaplain with the Maine Warden Service. She is called out to companion family members when someone goes missing in the woods, or to accompany the authorities when they go to notify family members of the death of a loved one.
Kate was the wife of a state trooper, mother of four, and a writer when her husband Drew was killed in a traffic accident. Drew’s dream had been to become a Unitarian Universalist minister. Over time, Kate decided to go to seminary. Her story about being perceived as The Plucky Widow says lots about the way we tend to make assumptions about peoples’ lives.
Kate’s theology and her views about death are insightful and thought-provoking. Her stories about family life make it all very real.
I hope you’ll read this fine book by one of our own. It’s well worth your time.
