TWO COASTS

1

My first child, my girl, was born just before seven on a spring night, perfect. She was compact and fully formed, a little over five pounds. She smelled like sliced apple and salted pretzels, like the innocent recent arrival from a saline world that she was.

But the midwife was worried. "She's small for gestational age," she kept saying. "Any problems or issues during pregnancy?"

I wanted to ask her if heartbreak counted. If sharing a bed with a good-hearted dog, rather than the baby's father, might do it.

"Also," the midwife said, "she looks a little jaundiced."

"That's just the Greek side," my mom cut in, "we're all yellow."

The midwife finally handed her over, a waxy, pinched little thing. Gory and unkempt. Not serenely smiling like the dolls of my youth. But a real baby, mine.

When I breathed her in, a straight, bright synaptic path lit up the center of my brain. Every neuron said to its neighbor, yes, yes, yes, yes, this is the one, yes. This...

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. Do you think Happiness is an apt title for this memoir? Why do you think Heather chose this particular, single word as the title?
2. How do you face adversity? Do you hunker down, as Brian described his tactic, or do you reach out for people to huddle with, like Heather did? Or do you take another approach?
3. "I was suddenly afraid of being bitten by a creature whose solitary home I'd invaded" (20). Think about Heather's early relationship with Brian and what this line means in that context. Do you think her use of the metaphor is intentional?
4. What did you think about the way Brian and Heather's relationship evolved over the course of the book, and in particular during the medical ordeals they faced? Do your own ...