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From The New York Times and WBUR Boston, this is Modern Love.

Stories of Love, Laws, and Redemption.

I'm your host, Megna Chakrabardi.

When a loved one becomes very ill, it can shift your perspective on love and family in surprising ways.

For Lee Newman, her father's failing health turned an ordinary family hunting trip into an unexpected lesson about hope.

Actor Darby Stanchfield of ABC's Scandal reads Lee Newman's essay, A Family That Takes No for An Answer.

Every year, my far-flung family gathers for Christmas at my parents' house in eastern Idaho, along the Snake River, where the snow falls with thick, dreamy, often relentless abandon.

Last year it had been falling for almost a week.

The day before Christmas Eve, as flakes continued to drift down in the afternoon light dimmed, my father suggested we shoot some ducks for dinner.

Who wanted to go?

My husband Lawrence did. He was new to the western ethos of hunting your own food.

And I wanted to go too. Even though I was five months pregnant, if only to distill any ideas my family might have, about my now being a Wimpy New York City pregnant lady, capable only of sitting in a rocker, ordering BPA-free baby bottles online.

Off we set, throwing on parkas and hauling out shotguns.

The route down to the river is a narrow quarter mile walk through cottonwoods.

The fresh drifts came up to our thighs.

We lumbered along our spaniel, Tori, nosing ahead.

Ten yards before the bank, dad motioned us down with his glove.

We hit the snow, peaking through thickets of ice branches to scout what lay below.

We crossed a semi-frozen knee-high section of the river, climbing up a narrow gravel island.

Already my hands were numb. I hadn't dressed properly. My gloves were finkulous and I had skipped the snow pants.

Just on the other side of the island, a small flock of ducks, plus several Canadian geese, were fusing in the bent, crackling reeds.

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