Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Recovery Disks for Life


7 am and 76 degrees.
With the demise of my husband's computer I ended up searching for recovery disks to see if the poor machine could be resurrected. I encountered CDs I forgot I made. All my old underwater photographs. I will post the rest over time. This one was taken when I was doing a Caribbean coastal ecology course in Belize. I was hovering, snorkeling, not even diving and this scene unfolded in front of me. When I see it I am back in Belize. It is magic. I want my books to be like that. To transport people back in time and place, to create a private world in their head constructed by my words.
That's what books do to me and that is why I love to write them.
But I digress...
Having our computer lose its brains made me think more deeply about what has happened to me these last few months.
My mother passing away from dementia in April, my beloved cat dying, my niece losing her husband to cancer...
None of these can be minimized. You either hurt for yourself or hurt for other people.
It got me wondering about that elusive recovery disk.
Wouldn't it be great to have a recovery disk for life?
Put it in the side of your brain and presto! You want to live again!
You decrease your grief by half and half again.
Remembering the pleasure with only remnants of a sweet regret.
Recovery disk for life.
I like that.

2 comments:

Kimber Li said...

So sorry to hear about all the losses in your family.

Have you considered writing a story based on the recovery disks of life? Sounds like a fantastic science fiction story!

Les said...

I like this idea, too. Having experienced too much sadness in the past few years, I'd love to have a recovery disk of a happier time.

My belated sympathies for the loss of your mom. There really are no words, are there?