As a teenager, author J.J. Hansen steeled her insides every time she walked into her mother’s hospital wing. Years later, her poise under pressure earned accolades as she planned her father’s funeral. The Lavender Envelope is the story of what happened when she decided to quit being strong and move forward by going through the past instead of walking away from it. In essays woven with memory and metaphor she depicts the healing process that began when she tore open her envelope and determined to live.