In sixteen essays of wit, rage, and reconciliation, Embalming Mom chronicles loss and renaissance in a life that reaches from Florida to Arizona across to England and home again. Burroway brilliantly weaves her way through the dangers of daily life - divorcing her first husband, raising two boys, establishing a new life, scattering her mother's ashes, and sorting the meager possessions of her father. Each new danger and challenge highlights the tenacious will of the body and spirit to heal. I Didn't Know Sylvia Plath—Danger and Domesticity in the Deep South—Embalming Mom—Footprints—Eleventh Hour—Dad Scattered—Changes—Trash Talk—My One True West—Freeze Frame—Pool—PC and PC—We Eat the Earth—Of the Beholder—Soldier Son—Bonnes Anniversaires