Bury Me In My Bathing Suit: Essays on life, grief and unexpected joybursts

Book Synopsis: Gathering the courage to write a eulogy, wedding, bar mitzvah, graduation, or birthday toast can be challenging. Making your audience laugh through their tears is typically the goal. Sami Greenfield’s stories on grief, love, infertility, fear, and gratitude, are meant to inspire readers to share their own bursts of joy when they raise a glass. Life experiences can be positive when the lesson reveals itself and you are pushed forward. Greenfield calls these moments of discovery “joybursts.” The book speaks to readers in a funny, deeply personal, relatable manner, inspiring conversations about difficult subjects.

Give this book with a bottle of wine to a friend who is anxious about her upcoming empty nest, who is recently widowed, is planning her mother’s eightieth birthday, or whose sister is newly engaged. Return for a cup of coffee to hear what made her laugh, cry, and relive her own memories.

In Bury Me in My Bathing Suit, Greenfield sprinkles her stories with a toast that inspires one’s own opportunity to raise a glass! Gramma Phyllis is a snarky character (in every sense of the word!) throughout the essays, and she shares one of her pie recipes at the end of each section. Baking together has always been a way to ease anxiety and connect with Greenfield’s own family.

Sami also shares some great lessons learned about grief after watching her parents, Pake and Pookie, go through cancer, and with her elderly neighbor Dale, rescuing an owl, Owlivia, and sharing her eventual death with her community. From meeting her husband on the middle school blacktop breakdancing to helping her Dad surprise her Mom with a stripper on her fortieth birthday, Greenfield’s stories will make readers laugh through their tears.