ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lee Stephenson Birkhold has six grandchildren. When her first grandchild was born she left her professional career to take care of him. Since then, Lee dedicated a year of care to each of her grandchildren taking her from Pennsylvania to California to Ohio. When her oldest grandchild started asking questions about death and dying, Lee knew it was time to write Before We Say Goodbye. Currently, Lee lives in Columbus, Ohio and Florida with her amazing and supportive husband.

Interview with the Author

Are you the grandma in the story?

I am the Grammy in the story, however I do not have cancer. That part of the story is fiction, but cancer is a reality for many and my heart goes out to you.

What inspired you to write Before We Say Goodbye?

Before We Say Goodbye strikes a nerve because the questions it explores are very real - asked by my own five year old grandson. Where do you go when you die? Does dying hurt? Writing Before We Say Goodbye gave me the opportunity sit with those those big questions and explore them in an honest, simple, and comforting way.

How have you handled difficult conversations about death?

When I was young, I read Pearl S. Buck’s The Big Wave. The book had a huge impact on me. Buck wrote about life and death with such ease - not frightening at all. Decades later when my own children started asking me the big questions, I pulled that book off the shelf and read the familiar passages.

How do you hope this book will help people?

While Before We Say Goodbye isn’t classic literature, it is a gentle and thoughtful way to begin a conversation with a child about death and a reminder to celebrate life.