Archive for the ‘Books General’ Category
For One More Day
My wife and I went to Borders last night to look for books. We bought two, both dealing with the subject of death, though utterly dissimilar otherwise. One is Stiff by Mary Roach. Both my wife and I think she’s very funny, and are excited to read her book. The other book is For One More Day by Mitch Albom. I started the book last night and finished it this morning. Just a line from, and a few thoughts about, the book.
“I did what mattered to me,” she said. “I was a mother.”
This concluded a conversation between the narrator and his mom. He had just discovered, years after the fact, that his mom, who had been a nurse and a beautician, cleaned the houses of others to help put him and his little sister through college. This offended him because he thought she was above doing that kind of work. The anecdote serves to bring up the question of how we title/define ourselves.
People take titles, initials, and personal definitions very seriously. What we do for a living supposedly says a lot about us. What kind of degree someone has earned at a university gives them credibility, and sometimes a title like “Doctor.”
Not much needs said about the mother’s comment here. It was clear what was most important to her, how she defined herself.
What personal definition is most important to you?
