Gabrielle Giffords on Death, Marriage and a New Normal: ‘I Nearly Died. That Drew Us Much Closer’
There was much to hate about politics this year, especially the amount of hate that seemed to poison it. But if there was an antidote, it came from one of the victims: Gabrielle Giffords, vibrant and valiant member of Congress from Arizona, gunned down when a deranged shooter outside a supermarket put a bullet through her brain. That she survived at all was a miracle; that she recovers — slowly, stubbornly, each day a search for another word, another milestone — is a model. “You have to have hope and faith,” she says at the end of Gabby, the book she wrote with her husband and fellow warrior against all odds and expectations, astronaut Mark Kelly. “I will get stronger. I will return.” She answered our questions by e-mail.
Writing such an honest book is an act of bravery. Was it hard for you to relive the events this year in order to write it?
It was really hard to relive those days. At times it was a bit scary.
What do you remember about the shooting?
I don’t remember anything.
Mark waited a while to tell you how many other people were hurt or killed in the shooting. Did you realize that even before you were told?
I had no idea. I didn’t even know what happened to me. I didn’t know I was shot until I was told.Do you think what happened to you was partly the result of the bitter divisions in the country or entirely the act of a disturbed individual?
Politics has been very nasty recently, but this was clearly a sick person.