Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Day Thirty - "That's a tall order. Not so tall that you can't reach." Life of Pi

I don't know if you ever read the book Life of Pi by Yann Martel. It is an adventure fiction novel written about a young boy from India who ended up stranded on a small boat after the ship he was on wrecked. He and a tiger both travel and survive for over 200 days on the water. It's a book about his spiritual journey through life. He ends up in the States. I just found it interesting. "That's a tall order. Not so tall that you can't reach." Life of Pi

Well, that's how I'm feeling right now. That's a tall order. I've been reading through many of the emails and coorespondence from 2003 and it's not easy going back to that time. I don't know what would have happened had Michele not gone to the reunion. I probably would have laughed at the book - like we did - scoffed at the out-going administration of the school and prayed a prayer of thanksgiving for the new administration coming in not having to deal with this. The problem is, though, if it had not been dealt with then, it would have come out some time.

For Michele, her memories started coming back later in her life. For me, I always had my memories but just decided to try and get by minimal confrontation or exposition. Michele has her own story and I won't even attempt to tell it. First because it's not my place, second because there is a lot of her story I don't know because it's not my story. But, she was on a mission at the reunion, to find out what happened 30 years before. Imagine not remembering everything that happened but starting to get glimpses of it, trying to find anyone who could help bring back memories of the past. You have to get to a certain place in your life in order to do that. And for Michele this part began at the 2003 reunion.

After the reunion, we spent a little time in the area and then headed home. Michele and I agreed to continue communicating via email and phone. If my memory serves me it was several weeks before we communicated. I wasn't sure what the next steps were going to be but I knew that what ever it was, I was going on the scariest ride of my life.

"Speaking of a zoo. It was a huge zoo, spread over numberless acres, big enough to require a train to explore it, though it seemed to get smaller as I grew older, train included. Now it's so small it fits in my head." Life of Pi

2 comments:

  1. Life of Pi ~ good book. Will Michelle blog as well? I understand about not remembering part of your life....there are big holes in mine. It would be interesting to read hers as well....guess maybe then I'll have to start. lafm

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  2. I can't answer for her. She would have to decide on her own.... As far as your own story, I would encourage you to at least start writing about it. You don't have to share it with anyone. Just start writing.

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