Three weeks ago, I was in Greece. At this very moment, I was on a bus heading back to Athens after a day at Delphi. That was the day I decided I'd talk to strangers, the day I decided internet dating sites were infinitely less interesting than real places with real people. I've thought a lot about the relationships in my life since then and about what I wish I had done differently in my marriage (this is different from thinking about what I wish he had done.) I have a lot more thinking to do, but what I really want is to be able to do is express what I am really thinking and feeling, and listen to what the other person is saying and appreciate how they are feeling.
The protagonist in the novel I'm writing is such a victim that she's begun to irritate me. It's up to me to edit that out of her so she can take her journey and transform.
The same sort of transformation should happen in a good memoir. There's got to be transformation--at least for that one segment of life that the writer is writing about.
All of this is why I will be spending my day inside my studio.
Of course, I'm hoping for transformation in real life, too.
Tonight, if I can find a liquor store, I'm going to buy a nice bottle of Greek ouzo and share it with the friends I've made here--and some of the people I haven't gotten to know yet, i.e. strangers.
4 comments:
Sounds like you had a wonderful time in Greece. I agree, traveling and meeting people from different countries is the best way to feel good about life and yourself. I'm rewriting a memoir about living on an island in Belize. I found my husband through an ad in the paper.
I had a feeling it was you before I clicked on the link and saw your photo. My gosh. How your writing has taken off since the good old Lit Stew days. Our 'director' NFP would applaud your journey of self-exploration and reinvention. I sure do. I read every insightful, perceptive, brave, clear-eyed entry, shaking my head, green-eyed with admiration, and thinking, jeez, if only I could recapture as vividly and honestly my own thoughts and observations...It sounds like you made good use of your Greek vacation. I just wonder, will you ever come back to Jazz?
Everyplace is someplace to come back to. Been to Belize (and Ambergris.) I've recently realized that, this past year, I haven't really lived anywhere. When I added up the miles a couple of months ago--before Greece, before Virginia, it was over 60,000 miles that I'd traveled since my marriage turned to dust. But I always come back to friends and family.
Hey, I like your blog. I hope all is well and glad you have fun in greece.
Post a Comment