Solve for Happy

seventeen days after the death of my wonderful son, ali, i began to write and couldn’t stop. my topic was happiness, an unlikely topic given the circumstances. less than 6 month later i was ready with the full draft of the book. losing a child, they say, is the hardest experience ever. it certainly shakes every parent to the core. losing a loving, kind, caring child is even harder; losing him at his prime is harder still; and losing him unexpectedly to preventable human error may be the hardest thing of all. ali was truly an angel. he made everything he touched better, and everyone he met happier. he was not just my son but my best friend. at age eighteen he was noticeably wiser than any man i ever knew and so i sought his advice whenever i faced a big decision. he was my support and my confidant. i found myself thinking, “when i grow up, i want to be just like ali.” the day he left us, there was every reason to be sad, even depressed for many years to come. yet, in the face of the