Sunday, August 11, 2013

Tough things




This weekend, I finished my friend Tanya's beautiful memoir, Leaving Tinkertown. I cried. Can't help it. I don't know if it's possible to read it without tearing up, but there is so much that's true about love, family, loss, friendship in it. It's a beautiful elegy for a parent, about caring for a sick parent.  It's an appreciation of what is true in that relationship, respecting and facing all that is difficult while not losing what is wonderful.  It's about family and creating a family. You put down the book with an appreciation of the great bond this father and daughter had, what a village this man created, not just in his backyard, but in his life, and something his daughter has done as well.  It makes me teary even to write that. Just beautiful.

This song above I just heard today.  Also, not an easy subject, but somehow this performer and the song really touched me. Being in New York on 9/11 probably means I'll feel this stuff in a different way always because of its proximity, but I do think this song does something so wonderful in a few minutes - a full relationship, mourning, appreciation, and moving on.  Kind of amazing.  Don't know why it's striking me the way it does, but hopefully you will feel the same.

I have an impulse to sum this up, and I guess the sum would be that I'm glad we have art to mirror us, to acknowledge how painful it is at times, and then remind us how beautiful it is, too.

2 comments:

Elizabeth said...

This is the perfect review of Tanya's book, all of which I would agree, including the tears.

Criticlasm said...

Thank you. And yes, so great - I'm glad we can start posting reviews at Amazon. I'm so excited for her!