Beauty on the Backroads

Stories of grace for life's unexpected turns

The Weekly Read

Brotherhood & an ultimate test of friendship: Review of I’ll Push You by Patrick Gray and Justin Skeesuck

I love a good memoir, and while I have no immediate plans to hike the Camino de Santiago, this story of brotherhood and ultimate friendship was un-put-down-able.

Patrick and Justin are more than friends. They’re like brothers. They grew up together and had adventures together throughout their childhood. They maintained their friendship through college (they attended different ones) and after marriage, involving their families in each other’s lives.

When Justin was diagnosed with a progressive neuromuscular disease that eventually left him unable to use his arms and legs, Patrick was with him in a support role at each stage of the disease.

Their friendship would be put to the test with three words.

After watching a travel program on television, Justin told Patrick he wanted to travel the Camino de Santiago–a famous pilgrimage hike in northern Spain. Patrick’s response?

“I’ll push you.”

Over six weeks and 500 miles, he did just that, but he didn’t do it alone. Their story of brotherhood, prepping for the trip, and traveling the Camino became the book of the same phrase Patrick uttered: I’ll Push You. (Disclaimer: I received a copy of the book from the publisher. Review reflects my honest personal opinion.)

The story left me in awe of their relationship and I cried many tears as they recounted the ways people stepped in to help them accomplish what seemed impossible. It also reflects a relationship we don’t hear much about: an intimate friendship between men. While they are hiking, Patrick has to take care of all of Justin’s needs, and because of their friendship, it is a beautiful, humbling picture of serving one another.

In reflecting on their journey, Patrick and Justin paint no rosy pictures. They are honest about their struggles, doubts and fears. And their decisions to keep on believing, living and choosing each other are an encouragement to those who have difficulties and those whose loved ones are facing trials.

Side note: A film crew accompanied them on their journey, and I’ll Push You is a documentary releasing this fall. Check out the trailer here (grab some tissues first) and then read all about it in book form.

Maybe the hardest book I’ve ever read: Review of Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

Okay, so this book needs to come with a warning. Or maybe you can just let this be it: you will be broken, shaken and awakened by reading this book and it will hurt.

Bryan Stevenson writes in the opening pages of Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption: “This book is about getting closer to mass incarceration and extreme punishment in America. It is about how easily we condemn people in this country and the injustice we create when we allow fear, anger and distance to shape the way we treat the most vulnerable among us.” (p.13)

I’ve long wanted to read this book and when I did, I found myself so absorbed by the stories that my in-real-life was affected in ways I did not expect. I had trouble sleeping and I was so saddened by the experiences of people who grew up in a different area of the country with a different skin color than me that I spent some days anxious and agitated with the world at large.

Stevenson’s stories of injustice are disturbing at best, maddening at worst, and I was even mad that I could put the book down and walk away for a while when it stirred in me emotions I could not handle. What Stevenson and the folks at EJI have done through the years is nothing short of miracle work, and I applaud their tirelessness.

I’m not sure I will ever forget these words from early in the book:

Proximity has taught me some basic and humbling truths, including this vital lesson: Each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done.”

I mean, what if we lived with that attitude?

At the same time, I’m challenged to be informed about the injustices in our justice system and how much work we have to do. Stevenson’s stories are not all that different than stories we read on social media or in the news today. For whatever reason, his collection of stories and experiences is more shattering to my world view. Maybe that’s the difference a book makes.

I won’t soon forget this book, and I am more convinced than ever that the death penalty is wrong and racism persists in the justice system. As a white woman, I can’t fully understand what it’s like to live with this kind of injustice, but I can continue to increase my awareness of it.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of the book from the publisher. Opinion of the book is my honest one.