Month: September 2011

In which people say nice things

Catching up on reviews… Many thank to Ian Sales for these kind words about about Solitaire, and to Christopher East for this recent lovely review of Dangerous Space and this earlier review of Solitaire.

I am always so grateful when people take the time to read and comment this way, to consider my writing in the context of how it has connected with them. That matters to me. I think it does to all writers. It’s a gift: thank you to all who give it.

To life

I was utterly determined not to blog about the 9/11 anniversary, especially since I’ve been so long absent from my own blog that returning to talk of other people’s pain seemed…. Well. It seemed unseemly. And so I will talk instead of how deeply touched I am by the National September 11 Memorial that was unveiled today at the site of the World Trade Towers.

Click the photo to see the entire slideshow.

The thing about these photos that makes me weep is not the images of the families, although they are powerful and evocative. No, it’s the captions and what they taught me about the design of the memorial. It’s so thoughtful. It’s all about human things. The sound of ever-flowing water is designed to be a comfort to visitors. The names of the dead are arranged in affinity groups — co-workers, friends, remembered together. The pools are deep and wide, like life. There is room for everyone.

I don’t particularly want a grave. I don’t need there to be a place where the last of me lies, where people can visit. But when Nicola and I go to the park, we sit on a bench that someone paid for in memory of a loved one. We look out at the water and the sky, and we talk about life. That bench gives us comfort, and perspective, and a place to acknowledge the beauty of the world. And around the bench, life goes on.

Here’s to life.
 


Nicola took this photo from the bench.