Benjamin Ortega, youngest child of the author, can remember watching his mother mourn his father's death...
He would later describe it as feeling like he was watching her through a tunnel, seeing her in another place, far away grieving.

When the author began the process of attempting to find appropriate cover art for the book, she thought to ask Ben to attempt to put to paper what he remembered watching her grieve looked like...and that's when the woman and the candle came into focus. The first draft (shown below) took everyone's breath away, including Susan's publisher & marketing team...the only needed change was to add color, quickly giving life to the now-recognizable paperback cover.

Later, when Susan would link arms with Our Daily Bread to produce a course for their Discovery Series, it seemed natural for Benjamin to create another original piece in the same artistic vein. It was later revealed that the original artwork would not be viable as cover art for booklet; however, this piece will always hold a dear spot in the author’s heart for how vividly Ben had managed to capture the essence of “Catching Your Breath: Grieving the Death of a Spouse.”

“Life After Breath” original jacket art.