What are you waiting for? Is there something you are putting off until tomorrow? What if suddenly all of your tomorrows were taken away? We are all dying, but we live like we have all the time in the world. Dying to go On Vacation is the inspirational retelling of my journey of faith after receiving a terminal cancer diagnosis. It is a humorous, and sometimes heart breaking, story of positively dealing with why bad things happen to good people and what to do when the world you were building seems to fall apart. Here is what others are saying: "Marty Cauley writes with truth that flows from his heart...something this journey has changed. Although I have always aspired to be as smart as my dear friend...now I hope to be as wise. Learn from his wisdom...it will change your heart." Dr. Laura Early Founding Pastor and Community Developer All God's Children United Methodist Church "Marty Cauley speaks candidly of intrusive illness and the unwelcome journey he and his family now make with cancer as a part of every day. We see in his life the undeniable interweaving of abundant and eternal life in the life he now lives to God before us all. Read this book and give thanks for the life, abundant and eternal, we share in Christ." Hope Morgan Ward United Methodist Bishop, North Carolina Conference "I continue to be inspired by Marty's ability to speak his truth simply, slowly, and beautifully. Thank you Marty for not shrinking from death, but meeting it head-on, with God's love and trust for life now and life to come. One of the best reflections and narratives about life and death I've read in a long time." Rev. P. Drake, Chaplain "I love your description of dying slowly. You put into words of wisdom to love, live, and laugh: )" Donna P., Cancer Survivor "The Psalmist urges us to "teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." In Dying to Go On Vacation, we discover a heart of wisdom in the transparent witness of Marty Cauley. As I read his testimony, I connected his story will crises I have navigated in my own life, and I thought of brothers and sisters who are passing through present storms. I am happy that commend these lessons, which have a life and death urgency, to a wide audience!" Bishop Kenneth Carter United Methodist Bishop, Florida Conference

Who could refuse a two-week stay in a chateau perched on the edge of the Mediterranean? Certainly not Richard, who was fed up to his easel with the damp London weather. Babysitting a treasure-filled museum while his old Sorbonne roommate honeymooned in Spain was the least he could do. The vandals who’d been plaguing the chateau wouldn’t dare return, the repairmen Tom hired would be completely trustworthy, and “murder” was only found in something by Agatha Christie. Richard might even meet a woman, someone capable of surprising him like never before. He should go. He really should. He was dying for a vacation.

"Built on her ... Modern Love column, 'When a Couch is More Than a Couch' (9/23/2016), a ... memoir of living meaningfully with 'death in the room' by the 38-year-old great-great-great granddaughter of Ralph Waldo Emerson--mother to two young boys, wife of 16 years--after her terminal cancer diagnosis"--

"A ... new philosophy and ... guide to getting the most out of your money--and out of life--for those who value memorable experiences as much as their earnings"--

A “rich, unblinking” (USA TODAY) memoir that moves from grief to reckoning to reflection to solace as a marine biologist shares the solo worldwide journey she took after her fiancé suffered a fatal box jellyfish attack in Thailand. In the summer of 2002, Shannon Leone Fowler was a blissful twenty-eight-year-old marine biologist, spending the summer backpacking through Asia with the love of her life—her fiancé, Sean. He was holding her in the ocean’s shallow waters off the coast of Ko Pha Ngan, Thailand, when a box jellyfish—the most venomous animal in the world—wrapped around his legs, stinging and killing him in a matter of minutes, irreparably changing Shannon’s life forever. Untethered and unsure how to face returning to her life’s work—the ocean—Shannon sought out solace in a passion she shared with Sean: travel. Traveling with Ghosts takes Shannon on journeys both physical and emotional, weaving through her shared travels with Sean and those she took in the wake of his sudden passing. She ventured to mostly landlocked countries, and places with tumultuous pasts and extreme sociopolitical environments, to help make sense of her tragedy. From Oswiecim, Poland (the site of Auschwitz) to war-torn Israel, to shelled-out Bosnia, to poverty-stricken Romania, and ultimately, to Barcelona where she and Sean met years ago, Shannon began to find a path toward healing. Hailed as a “brave and necessary record of love” (Ann Patchett, New York Times bestselling author of Bel Canto and Commonwealth) and “as intricate and deep as memory itself (Jane Hamilton, author of A Map of the World), Shannon Leone Fowler has woven a beautifully rendered, profoundly moving memorial to those we have lost on our journeys and the unexpected ways their presence echoes in all places—and voyages—big and small.

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Book Lovers and Beach Read comes a sparkling novel that will leave you with the warm, hazy afterglow usually reserved for the best vacations. Two best friends. Ten summer trips. One last chance to fall in love. Poppy and Alex. Alex and Poppy. They have nothing in common. She’s a wild child; he wears khakis. She has insatiable wanderlust; he prefers to stay home with a book. And somehow, ever since a fateful car share home from college many years ago, they are the very best of friends. For most of the year they live far apart—she’s in New York City, and he’s in their small hometown—but every summer, for a decade, they have taken one glorious week of vacation together. Until two years ago, when they ruined everything. They haven't spoken since. Poppy has everything she should want, but she’s stuck in a rut. When someone asks when she was last truly happy, she knows, without a doubt, it was on that ill-fated, final trip with Alex. And so, she decides to convince her best friend to take one more vacation together—lay everything on the table, make it all right. Miraculously, he agrees. Now she has a week to fix everything. If only she can get around the one big truth that has always stood quietly in the middle of their seemingly perfect relationship. What could possibly go wrong? Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2021 by Newsweek ∙ Oprah Magazine ∙ The Skimm ∙ Marie Claire ∙ Parade ∙ The Wall Street Journal ∙ Chicago Tribune ∙ PopSugar ∙ BookPage ∙ BookBub ∙ Betches ∙ SheReads ∙ Good Housekeeping ∙ BuzzFeed ∙ Business Insider ∙ Real Simple ∙ Frolic ∙ and more!

A guide to living life in the moment uses lessons learned from the dying to help the living find the most enjoyment and happiness.