It surprises me what can trigger intense emotions and bring grief back to the surface. It can be any number of things. A song, a phrase, a place, a smell, or even a book and the emotions it stirs. I just finished listening to Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese and am moved to tears. I just want to sit her and unabashedly cry my heart out. To cry for the loss of my soulmate. To cry for a truncated life. To cry for what could and should have been. But, life isn’t like that. It has its own twists and turns and the intervening of fate. I cry and yet I stop. For in the end crying releases my grief for a time but it can not change the past. I know that I will dry my tears and return to the present. I know that life goes on and I must not let it pass me by. I am here. If anything, I have learned that I must appreciate what I have. To move forward and to embrace each new day.
Why did this book trigger such intensity? I can’t pinpoint it. I haven’t written a post in months, why did this novel move me to put my thoughts down? Perhaps it was the story of love lost and found, life, unintentional hurt, retribution, misunderstanding, intertwining of decisions and actions, or the sanctity and appreciation of life. And fate. The book, very loosely, is about a family in Ethiopia and the path of a surgeon. Obviously there is so much more to the story. There are no commonalities with my life except perhaps, some of the medical scenes which stirred memories I would prefer to stay buried. The bookits story and message touched my heartstrings. It made me think. And to remember. And while the memories make me cry, they also validate the emotions and experiences of my life, of some aspect in anyone’s life.
When I am affected by a book I often ponder how authors can develop such intracate novels. How do they develop the messages they want to share? How do they create an entire group of people and conversations and life? Do they have a connection to an alternative universe where these stories actually happened and they are just the reporters who have no choice but to share? I am awed by the power of some to touch my raw emotions.
I am happy when I find a book that touches my heartstrings. That makes me laugh or to cry or both. Most importantly is that a novel makes me think and to contemplate life. And spurs me to write a blog post that shares my thoughts, clears my tears and sorrow and makes me rejoice in life.
Embrace each day, my friends. Remember and honor the past but don’t let any parts of it ruin your future.
Blatantly Life 