Life Arc Interchange

So I was not too far off the mark with this, excerpted from our last long exchange:

“You do have material for a memoir. Dunno, maybe stabbed and left for dead, bleeding out on the table? Or possibly a ruptured main artery and bleeding internally? Car or motorcycle accident possibly, where you were at fault, or not, and almost wound up in jail even after almost dying?  For something you didn’t do? A gun fight? Knife fight? Bar brawl with broken beer bottles? Desperately trying to defend the innocent (as you would surely do) but wound up misunderstood? Attacked in the street while you were minding your own business. Running with the bulls in Spain and slipped and fell and gored ha ha ha? Illness, something gone wrong? - Life stories; the stuff of memoirs, novels, songs, heavy metal albums, ballads, poems. Write it down. I can’t wait to read what comes next. You will be better for the writing. By the way, and not for nothing, you are here for a reason. (Yes I know an overused expression. But true nonetheless)…”

Let’s see, I got it right on the knife fight, the bleeding out internally, the car accident, (still waiting for the motorcycle accident story), almost winding up in jail, for something you didn’t do, desperately trying to defend the innocent (as you would surely do) but wound up misunderstood, attacked in the street while you were minding your own business, illness, something gone wrong (yeah yeah, I know that was vague). I missed on the running with the bulls (but a good metaphor, nonetheless)…all-in-all not too bad for reading between the lines.

Not to make light of your life trajectory, I think you have come through all right. And I only hope that you did not feel too alone while you were so broken and dying. I also said that I am glad to see that you are reading the signs and not blowing past them. Well maybe you breathe a sigh of relief too and think that yes, “I am doing that.” Certainly ten years and seven years married are excellent, and you also have a daughter, someone for whom to give your life away. I cannot explain why, but I feel a certain closeness to you and with your story; quite probably because I knew you way back when, when none of these, as yet future events, happened. The innocence, the wonder years now long in the past; happens to everyone though. Also since you can now look back on the last twenty-five or so years, you can see that sometimes for some, time is littered with pitfalls and the overbearing. For you it has not been easy, but you already know that it is impossible to do it over, but at least I benefit from the telling, your writing. And you do too, again you have someone to live for, to relive your wonder years.

I too have seen my father desperate. It was a time when I left for Chile. A long story, just one part of his loneliness that I still and probably always will feel a bit responsible. And he was desperately lonely and for the most part I was indifferent. I do understand it and also understand that there are no do-over’s; now he is gone and I cannot even tell him what I have done since. But that is more stuff for [b]my [/b]recuerdos sometime.

Don’t feel too inadequate. You are now where you should be, and I was also right when I said, “By the way, and not for nothing, you are here for a reason. (Yes I know an overused expression. But true nonetheless)”. Keep writing and thanks. You seem to me like a younger brother who I never had.