They had, finally, the only thing anyone really wants in life: someone to hold your hand when you die.
Lorrie MooreRead
I tried not to think about my life. I did not have any good solid plans for it long-term - no bad plans either, no plans at all - and the lostness of that, compared with the clear ambitions of my friends (marriage, children, law school), sometimes shamed me. Other times in my mind I defended such a condition as morally and intellectually superior - my life was open and ready and free - but that did not make it less lonely.
Interpretation
The quote reflects the struggle of grappling with a lack of direction in life and the loneliness that can accompany it.
Lorrie Moore illustrates the tension between the societal expectations of having clear long-term plans, such as marriage and career choices, and the personal experience of feeling lost and directionless. While the speaker sometimes finds solace in the freedom of having no rigid plans, the contrasting feelings of shame and loneliness highlight the complex nature of life choices and the pressure to conform to conventional paths.
In practice
This quote could be shared in a graduation speech to relate to those feeling uncertain about their future paths.
They had, finally, the only thing anyone really wants in life: someone to hold your hand when you die.
You couldn't pretend you had lost nothing... you had to begin there, not let your blood freeze over. If your heart turned away at this, it would turn away at something greater, then more and more until your heart stayed averted, immobile, your imagination redistributed away from the world and back only toward the bad maps of yourself, the sour pools of your own pulse, your own tiny, mean, and pointless wants.
She was not good on the phone. She needed the face, the pattern of eyes, nose, trembling mouth... People talking were meant to look at a face, the disastrous cupcake of it, the hide-and-seek of the heart dashing across. With a phone, you said words, but you never watched them go in. You saw them off at the airport but never knew whether there was anyone there to greet them when they got off the plane.
No matter that you anticipate a thing; you get so used to it as part of the future that its actuality, its arrival, its force and presence, startles you, takes you by surprise, as would a ghost suddenly appearing in the room wearing familiar perfume and boots.
When I was in graduate school, I had a teacher who said to me, 'Women writers should marry somebody who thinks writing is cute. Because if they really realised what writing was, they would run a mile.'
She was unequal to anyone's wistfulness. She had made too little of her life. Its loneliness shamed her like a crime.
What you've done becomes the judge of what you're going to do - especially in other people's minds. When you're traveling, you are what you are right there and then. People don't have your past to hold against you. No yesterdays on the road.
There is really only one way to deal with Misery. Accept her presence. Like most experiences in life, we must acknowledge the passage gracefully and let her move through our lives because she brings with her a hidden gift.
It's important to have as much fun as possible while we're here. It balances out the times when the minefield of life explodes.
Life is a journey, but don't worry, you'll find a parking spot at the end.
The ties that bind us to life are tougher than you imagine, or than any one can who has not felt how roughly they may be pulled without breaking.
Very early, I knew that the only object in life was to grow.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.