Meet the Mom Who Sprinkled Her Husband's Ashes Across U.S. and Taught Her Daughters Resilience

"You know, I was terrified a lot of the time," she says, "like when you're running out of gas in Carlsbad and the next gas station is 150 miles away, but people always helped us. I look at my girls now and they definitely did not have the same childhood as most kids growing up in the suburbs. I raised them to be independent because I had to think, what if I drop dead?"

Today, Nell, 20, is a photographer studying at FIT, and Susannah, 19, an EMT, and teaches sailing and navigation for Tall Ships America.

Looking back she says, "I think there's nothing better than road therapy."

"In supermarkets and Walmarts, I'd buy a box of cookies and I'd offer them to ladies in line and sometimes we'd end up talking about my husband, and by the end, I'd be crying in their arms." she says. "It was as if I was grieving in the arms of America."

Fahrenthold, who lives in Hastings on Hudson, New York, is now working on her next book, The Airbnb Chronicles, about her adventures renting out her home.

"I wanted to welcome people to my house," she says, "the way people had opened up their arms to me."

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