There is a book that has been in my family for most, if not all, of my life. This copy was printed in 1962 and it's in amazing condition. My grandparents took good care of this book. I took it home yesterday because of what it might offer me in inspiration.
I can't say I've had more fun reading a dictionary. I am amazed at the size of the book and the content within its 2500 plus pages.
This book is full of words (and pictures). Words connect with other words and that is when stories are born. Words connect with other words and that is how we share our feelings. Words connect with other words and that is the invitation for me to share my narrative.
This blog is the place where I can share my narrative and this dictionary is going to help me with the words. Life is a journey. Each day adds to a person's story. Experiences and circumstances paint the pictures in that story. I have a life story and that has been fifty six years in the making. What I want to share in this blog is a narrative.
Throughout this blog, I will share Webster's words from this 1962 edition... and see if they have changed over the years and even if I have a different take on what those words mean for me now.
I am not interested in rehashing past events here that have no bearing on who I am today. This isn't about the details of my years as much as it's about how I am processing life now. How am I tracking on this life's journey now? How do I see my world? That is what I want to share. That is my narrative.
For first five decades of my life, I had a narrative that I embraced for my life. Like this dictionary, the narrative was handed down to me from my family. And also like this dictionary defines the words in it, that narrative defined me. It gave me community and purpose. That narrative was my reason for living. Now, that narrative no longer supports me on this life's journey. Because of that transition, there is now a new narrative for me. It has been slowly growing inside of me, and on occasion finds a place to be somewhat expressed.
Because I have let go of my former narrative, I have been asked now how I navigate life without it. Maybe here I can put some of the pieces of the story together and find an response to the concern that my mother expressed to me on the night my sister died.
"I don't understand how you can do this without Jesus."
Well, Mom... maybe you can't understand or maybe you won't want to understand... but I need to understand and at least have something to share if someone asks me one day with the intent of receiving an answer.
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