‘Climbing the Mountain’

An Audio Holiday Gift from Emily and Howard Brown to Inspire Difficult Family Conversations

By HOWARD BROWN
Author of Shining Brightly

As families gather for year-end holidays, there’s a universal truth: In addition to our joyous celebrations, our gatherings surface hard stuff—from misunderstandings to feuds, from new disabilities to losses of those who once were part of our circles.

In our family, we try to see each other for Hanukkah and the secular New Year holiday. Of course, we’ve also got our own Rosh Hashanah, our Jewish New Year, coming in the autumn of 2025, but we like to celebrate the arrival of the secular January 1 New Year like everyone else. Our year-end holidays are full of vivid family memories, including the scent of hot Wesson oil in Bubby Bertha’s kitchen at Hanukkah. If you read my memoir Shining Brightly, you may remember that my Bubby Bertha’s Hanukkah latkes, which she wrapped in paper and tied with string in “old school” style, were so popular that she sometimes made them to fulfill special requests that reached her even out of season.

As this year ends, our family certainly wishes for a revival of fond memories for all of you, as well.

But along with the scents and tastes and other joys of the holidays is almost always—well, I’m going to call it “hard stuff”. You know, all the baggage or trauma or grief that raises our anxiety when holidays are looming.

At times, we’ve all wondered: How can we talk about our hard stuff?

So, this year, as I am about to take a medical leave from my weekly Shining Brightly podcasts, I decided to invite my daughter Emily, a TV journalist in Montana, to record a special episode. As followers of ReadTheSpirit.com magazine know already, I’m fighting the good fight each day to recover from the devastating effects of some of he toughest Rock ’em Sock ’em chemo I’ve ever experienced! I’m in tightly controlled isolation, now, because my immune system is so compromised. The goal is to knock out enough of this advanced form of leukemia that’s surging through my body—so that I can receive a bone marrow transplant and finally knock out this latest cancer.

Yup, that is truly tough stuff for anyone to talk about!

But, honestly, I don’t think this podcast is a downer. That wasn’t our goal. I hope you’ll start listening and judge for yourself. Early listeners have kindly told me that they’ve found this inspiring.

We start by talking about—quite literally—Emily’s mountain climbing.

I hope you heard us loud and clear:

Keep the focus on ways we all can help others

Since I was diagnosed, weeks ago, I’ve repeated on a daily basis a list of things that everyone can do:

• Please send prayers and hugs—for me, and for those who you know need your prayers.
• Don’t get cancer! Cancer sucks. Cancer is terrible. So, go get yourself screened for cancer—whatever screening makes sense for you and your doctor.
• Donate blood and/or platelets where you live. I need transfusions—and so do many others in hospitals everywhere. We all depend on people like you to keep donating that life-giving blood.
• Get your cheek swabbed for bone-marrow donations. So many people around the world need bone-marrow transplants—yet it’s hard to find a match. If you send your swab into the database, perhaps someone who is desperately hoping for a match will discover that you are their miracle match.
• Be kind to others—try for at least one new act of kindness every day.
• Some things you can do are simple: Just hug your family and friends and tell them—today—how thankful you are for them.
• And, keep shining brightly always!

Howard is wearing a warm knitted hat Emily sent him, because the chemo has left him bald in the midst of winter. Emily accompanied that gift with a card featuring a woodblock print of a winter scene by Montana artist Claire Emery, titled “All Is Calm: Tucked in for the Winter.”