In chapter 1, what is the question Dede is obsessed with ?

When Dede asks the interviewer what she wants to know, the interviewer answers, "Tell me all of it." Then she comments on how "open and cheerful" Dede is, and she expresses wonder about how Dede manages to keep from letting "such a tragedy" take her under. Dede explains that she tells herself to focus on the happy years, and she plays over the happy memories in her head, like a movie.