Hi Pep,

I was curious,when I responded to another poster about the book I read, "The Five People You Meet in Heaven",you said it changed your life.

Care to elaborate? It's ok if you don't want to.

O <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="images/icons/smile.gif" />

yes... I will... right now getting crushed at work... be back later.

Pep

I read the book and it is about the influence your life has on everyone around you. Influencenes you never realized you had, both good and bad, sometimes on people you never even meet. It's a very easy read, meant more to make you reflect on your life then the life of the person in the story. Definately worth reading and will make you think twice about your actions, especially those where you say, who will know or what harm could it cause?

I read his first book, "Tuesdays With Morrie" which I loved. When I heard about his next book, I bought it for H for a gift. My H did not read it right away, and I picked it up and read the first chapter, I was stunned! The amusement park described was exactly like the Santa Cruz Beach And Boardwalk ... this is where my parents were born ...my mother grew up playing around the amusement park in the 20's .

link to SC boardwalk

After I read the first chapter, I put the book down... a few months later, Mom was ill with liver cancer.

I took time off to be with her during her hospice care. I took the book to read to her, because it was so descriptive of her early childhood life growing up free as a bird on the beach all summer long... eating taffy, riding the giant dipper, and going into the fun house to catch coins that had fallen out of people's pockets when they went on some of the spinning rides.

So, every afternoon, I'd make us some tea, and I'd read part of the book to her. I would read about 30 - 40 minutes. She loved the book. We never got to finish the book together. She died after going into a coma.

My sister would join us in the afternoon and listen to me read "The 5 People".

After Mom died, my Sis and I finished reading the book aloud. And we balled our eyes out.

The way it changed my life? ~sigh~ well... it opened several new veins of intimate discussions bewteen my Mom and myself. Some of her youthful memories, and some of her other not so wonderful memories. Remember, there is a chapter in "The 5 People" that deals with war... well, during WWII Mom worked as a volunteer in the VA hospital ... and this led to her meeting her first husband whom she married because she thought her teen sweetheart (my Dad) had been killed (mail mix-up) ... so she married this wounded soldier, and later divorced him when my Dad came home, not dead at all!

The book triggered so many things in my Mom, and she opened up... and not all of it was pleasant, but all was necessary, and all was graceful exposure of before unknown intimacies.

Pep

<small>[ November 12, 2004, 05:05 PM: Message edited by: Pepperband ]</small>

Thank you for sharing your thoughts Pep.I am sorry that your mom is gone.It's amazing how each and every one of us has a story to tell.My mom also grew up around the boardwalk,she in NY, near Coney Island.She also had quite a history,a lot of it very painful to hear but it endears me to her even more now.

Sorry if I misinterpreted this but,did your mom admit to any affairs(intimacies)?

Have you ever read,
"How to Know GOD", by Deepak Chopra? Now that's a book that would be fun to discuss in a group.There's also some interesting books I have read by Marianne Williamson that were good.

O

<small>[ November 12, 2004, 06:30 PM: Message edited by: Octobergirl ]</small>

Originally posted by Octobergirl:

Sorry if I misinterpreted this but,did your mom admit to any affairs(intimacies)?

No. Not that. Feelings of inadequacy and regrets about certain parts of her life. Feelings of unfullfillment in certain areas... like education.

Most of our conversations were walks down memory lane, and very pleasant. But somehow, she left this life feeling incomplete!

Have you ever read,
"How to Know GOD", by Deepak Chopra? Now that's a book that would be fun to discuss in a group.

For some reason, I could never sustain interest in any of Deepak's book to finish one.

Pep(with the short attention span) <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="images/icons/smile.gif" />

<small>[ November 13, 2004, 10:05 AM: Message edited by: Pepperband ]</small>

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Originally posted by Pepperband:
exposure of before unknown intimacies.</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">I see why you asked... this is poorly written... unknown intimacies shared between mother and daughter.... girl talk stuff.

Pep