If you've never loved someone who died...
...Then you've never truly loved anybody.
I'm not sure who said this originally, but somebody had to have said it because I'm neither smart enough nor sensitive enough to have been the first one to think of this notion...and I have been thinking about it a lot as I've been writing my current book. Entitled 'The Greatest Pursuit' - it's about an old man who suffers a major personal tragedy that completely changes everything about his life. I'll be the first to admit that what makes a good story is often a dramatized version of real life but, equally, a TRULY good story takes its major cues from either personal experience or that of others whom the author knows personally.
And it has been the research process for this book that has clarified for me that everybody seems to have lost someone whom they were extremely close to. It's just life...and death.
To be honest, I'm not really sure what the point of this post is....but I guess just to remember in my own mind [and help you remember in yours] the people I've cared about who are no longer around. And, I guess, in a round about way thinking about them will keep them alive in our memories and hearts and that's really all that matters.
On a personal note, I live a LONG way from my family. A full day's travel when you take into account travel to/from airports and then car or train travel back to Rhode Island from any of the regional international airports. So, when my parents die one day - and it will happen, whether I want it to or not because they are growing pretty old - I will probably not even get home until the next day at earliest. Worse still, if they are terribly and suddenly sick, I will probably be the only one in our family who might miss them before they die. It's not conjecture and not me simply frightening myself...this exact thing has happened to people I know who live far from their families. And yet, knowing all this, I choose to live in Prague. I choose to be far away because my life is my and I can't live my life if I'm constantly in fear of my parents' lives. We all have to make these difficult choices and I think (read: hope) they understand why I'm here and what I'm doing with the writing books thing...so I guess the best I can do is to think of my family at least once a day and remember where my roots are even if I'm very far away for 350+ days per year.
...that, and always remember to tell the people you love that you do love them every single time you communicate with them because life is uncertain and death is certain....only its timing is a mystery.
In conclusion...and this is where my giant/brilliant author-brain is supposed to have some incredibly sage advice about how to life life, right? Wrong, I'm afraid....so in conclusion, I think of all the people I love (and have loved, but are gone) in the same light so they are all equally present in my heart and mind...and I never miss an opportunity to remind them I care about them. Maybe if we all did the same, losing people could be just a little less sad and
I'm not sure who said this originally, but somebody had to have said it because I'm neither smart enough nor sensitive enough to have been the first one to think of this notion...and I have been thinking about it a lot as I've been writing my current book. Entitled 'The Greatest Pursuit' - it's about an old man who suffers a major personal tragedy that completely changes everything about his life. I'll be the first to admit that what makes a good story is often a dramatized version of real life but, equally, a TRULY good story takes its major cues from either personal experience or that of others whom the author knows personally.
And it has been the research process for this book that has clarified for me that everybody seems to have lost someone whom they were extremely close to. It's just life...and death.
To be honest, I'm not really sure what the point of this post is....but I guess just to remember in my own mind [and help you remember in yours] the people I've cared about who are no longer around. And, I guess, in a round about way thinking about them will keep them alive in our memories and hearts and that's really all that matters.
On a personal note, I live a LONG way from my family. A full day's travel when you take into account travel to/from airports and then car or train travel back to Rhode Island from any of the regional international airports. So, when my parents die one day - and it will happen, whether I want it to or not because they are growing pretty old - I will probably not even get home until the next day at earliest. Worse still, if they are terribly and suddenly sick, I will probably be the only one in our family who might miss them before they die. It's not conjecture and not me simply frightening myself...this exact thing has happened to people I know who live far from their families. And yet, knowing all this, I choose to live in Prague. I choose to be far away because my life is my and I can't live my life if I'm constantly in fear of my parents' lives. We all have to make these difficult choices and I think (read: hope) they understand why I'm here and what I'm doing with the writing books thing...so I guess the best I can do is to think of my family at least once a day and remember where my roots are even if I'm very far away for 350+ days per year.
...that, and always remember to tell the people you love that you do love them every single time you communicate with them because life is uncertain and death is certain....only its timing is a mystery.
In conclusion...and this is where my giant/brilliant author-brain is supposed to have some incredibly sage advice about how to life life, right? Wrong, I'm afraid....so in conclusion, I think of all the people I love (and have loved, but are gone) in the same light so they are all equally present in my heart and mind...and I never miss an opportunity to remind them I care about them. Maybe if we all did the same, losing people could be just a little less sad and
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