Arc Life between Two Unwinnable Wars: WWII and ALS

"Arc: Life between Two Unwinnable Wars: WWII and ALS" is a memoir by a Japanese woman who was born during WWII and survived the A-bomb in Hiroshima. She grew up amid the aftermath of the unconditional surrender and witnessed how her native country rebuilt itself from a bombed-out wasteland to the world's second economic giant in 20 years. After graduating from Tokyo University of Arts, she came to America as a scholarship student and spent her adult life as a professional violinist. She married a German physicist/engineer who endured a traumatic childhood in WWII Germany. He lost his brother and his father was taken as a POW, consequently dying due to the hardship. Despite their tough beginnings in countries that are 5,500 miles apart, they managed to build successful careers, raise two children together, and enjoy rich and happy lives. This stretch of time the author calls "the Arc" expanded high above their trauma to create a beautiful and expansive circle over their lives. During their 46 years together, however, she witnessed how her husband's childhood exposure to war was even tougher than hers, leaving life-long adverse effects on him, psychologically and physically. Their arcs came to an end when an incurable disease, ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig's disease) afflicted her husband. For 21 months, the author cared for him until his death at home.

Yuko Ninomiya Heberlein was born in Japan during World War II and graduated from the Tokyo University of Arts as a violin major. She came to the USA in 1966 and received her MFA in Music from the University of Minnesota. In 1969, she joined the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra as its First Violinist. Yuko went on to teach violin at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, earn a second master's degree in Japanese Linguistics, teach Japanese at University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, and release a CD "Music for the Young Paganini." She and her husband, an internationally recognized German scientist in thermal plasma, were married for 44 years before he passed away from ALS.