Cracked Open: A Memoir: Love, Loss and Becoming

What happens when the life you've spent decades building suddenly falls apart? For most of her life, Michelle Cooper believed strength was the answer. Childhood trauma taught her to survive. Grit and determination enabled her to succeed. She built a career that carried her from engineering roots to the executive ranks of a Fortune 50 company. She became the woman who could handle anything—the leader, the achiever, the strong one. For the first time, the armor she had worn for decades began to crack. Through unconditional love, Michelle discovered parts of herself she never knew existed beneath the performance, perfectionism, and relentless drive to prove her worth. In 2021, Michelle's husband, Bill, died at just fifty years old. Grief shattered more than her heart. It dismantled the identities she had spent a lifetime constructing.