Strangely enough, although I love to write, I am not much of a reader. I can read articles and short stories easily enough and I am a good researcher, but reading a big book cover to cover… I find difficult. When I try to read my mind gets lost in my own thoughts and wanderings. I find myself having to go back and reread pages, even chapters of the books. I have a hard time remembering characters and have to search back through the pages to find who they are and what they have done.
When I was nine, my Aunt Barbara gave me the book “Little Women.” It was a children’s book but possibly 100 pages. I started that book so many times and never finished. I would get lost in the illustrations of the beautiful March girls and I would trace over them and then color them myself. I think I was an adult before I ever finished that book. I recently gave it to my cousin, Beth. I received it the year she was born and my Aunt Barbara had written a note inside to me and dated it, Christmas 1964. When I gave it to her it had been taped together and the deep marks where I had traced the pictures were still evident. It had traveled the world with me for 54 years.
In 2003, I saw an interview with Mitch Albom, author of “Tuesdays with Morrie,” about his latest book, “The Five People You Meet in Heaven.” It was 196 pages and I figured I could conquer that. In short, I loved this book. It was about a man, Eddie, who had a series of tragedies in his life, from war to love loss and lived with a handicap. He was the maintenance man at an amusement park and felt he lived a mundane life and really had no purpose to his life. Eddie dies suddenly in an accident and finds himself not in heaven, but in a place where his life is explained by five people he encountered in his lifetime. Each one relays their experience with him. Some stories bring sorrow and others moments of joy.
In the end, the stories explain his purpose in life and why he was here. The experience answers many of the unanswered questions we all have in life. It shows us that in ways we do not even know, our lives impact others and we are all connected in ways we do not even understand.
I read this book several times. I bought copies of it and gave it to people. There was a time I would carry it on trips and read it on the plane…it was my travel book.
I have bought several books by Mitch Albom that followed, but never connected as I did with this one. The latest one was “The Stranger in the Lifeboat,” and I still need to read again. Even after giving it to my friend, Sho, to read and having her explain the intricacies; I still do not fully grasp the players and the meaning in the end. Comprehension is not my strong point I guess.
I have read other books but I would say one a year at the max. Finally, it goes without saying I read from my Bible every day. It gives me hope and strength when I need guidance but there are many things there I cannot comprehend as well. I am praying for the day I meet up with the Lord in Heaven and he explains the meaning of it all.
Trish B – April 10, 2023