On Columbus Day of 2010, the love of my life, my wife of fifteen years, died suddenly of a double pulmonary embolism. This is the story of a man shattered by loss who somehow comes back to life. It’s a memoir and a survival guide, with humor and a breezy, irreverent style that mitigates the sadness. It’s about relationships and finding love again, about insomnia and a mind that won’t go to sleep. And it’s a love letter to my wife who’s no longer here. And through it all, the quest for the perfect cocktail as an antidote to, as the subtitle says, “life’s pummeling.”