The Letter

April 30, 2012
In this wrought and thoughtful memoir, the widow of Pat Tillman—the professional football player who fatally joined the Army—navigates lost love and possibilities. Adventurous by nature, Pat left the Arizona Cardinals shortly after 9/11 and enlisted just months before his wedding to the author. His grandfather fought at Pearl Harbor, so Pat believed he needed to do something more meaningful with his life, and Marie acquiesced. “By asking him not to go, I would be asking him to be someone he wasn’t.” The couple had been high school sweethearts, spending 10 years together before his death and highly publicized memorial service. Officials first announced that he had been shot in the head by enemy fire in Afghanistan. Later, after a series of difficult investigations—including a frustrating hearing with Donald Rumsfeld—the cause of death was deemed “friendly fire.” In a “just in case” letter that Marie kept on her dresser during his deployments, Pat asked her one last favor: to continue living. “Emotionally guarded” by nature, she shuns the spotlight and moves from the West Coast to New York City, where she goes through the stages of grief out of the media spotlight. Though chronologically jumpy and slightly distanced, Marie makes her way back West as a wiser, more compassionate, and well-traveled single woman. She successfully honors her husband’s legacy while offering solace and hope for those in anguish.