What would you do if you went to the gym one morning, fell off of a bike, hit your head, woke up in a hospital, and had forgotten the last ten years of your life? You did not remember the birth and life of your three kids, and wouldn't know them if they walked right up to you, you did not remember separating from your husband or the name of your new boyfriend, nor did you remember the death of your best friend. It was all wiped away. What would you do? Well...this is exactly what happened to Alice Love in What Alice Forgot, a book that has touched my heart and my mind and has really caused me to think long and hard about life. Again.
I don't want to summarize the book for you, because I think it would spoil the plot and I don't like to do that. But I do feel compelled to comment on how horrible I felt as I read about Alice waking up at the hospital. She was scared to death that she has lost her baby, as the last memory she had was of being pregnant. She desperately wanted to speak to her husband because she knew he, the love of her life, could make it all better. Imagine, then, when he was mean to her, using short, curt, bitter words because they did not love each other anymore. She just didn't remember. She didn't remember being distanced from her sister, either. Her life, in 10 short years, had changed dramatically. With a bump on the head, she was actually given an amazing gift. She could re-write her life...provided that her memories did not return. She could turn things around, just by being who she used to be. Because she did not know how to be anything else.
My heart ached for her as she tried to remember what made her husband hate her, and she him. My heart ached as she realized that her sister was hurting and she couldn't remember why. I couldn't turn the pages fast enough as I longed to learn why her life had turned out the way it had and I prayed that her memory would stay gone forever. Alice Love was a kind and gentle person without her memories. From what I can tell, I don't think I would've like the Alice who remembered.
As I read this book, I felt so very grateful. I felt grateful for my family and my husband and for my life. And yet, I found myself disliking parts of Alice's life that I find myself, at 41, now wanting desperately--to be thin with the help of a personal trainer, to quit working so I can focus more on me, to buy a bigger house. And it made me stop and think. Why do I want these things? What about taking time to enjoy life and your family and your friends? Maybe those are the priorities I should focus on.
The sad thing is, I had decided to do just that. After my trips to London and Bermuda this summer, I had change my mind about life. There's more to life than Short Pump and I wanted my children to discover just that. I realized after these trips that a great big house would be lovely, but I really didn't want to be tied down by a large mortgage. And, I just hoped and prayed that I'd develop an aversion to all food and miraculously lose a ton of weight. :) But, then we all went back to school and those external forces that tend to bring me down (people) came flooding right back--the stay at home moms, the friends building new houses, the neighbors that run and are so toned and fit--and have muddled my thinking again, because I have let them. UGH.
So, I think that instead of loaning out What Alice Forgot as I typically do when I am done with a book, I will place this book in a spot where I can see it daily. Where it can remind me that my family is number one and the rest of it is just fluff. I need to focus on them and our lives together. Just as Alice did as she tried to remember why everything was so mixed up.
So, if you want to read this book, which I would highly recommend, you are going to need to get your own copy.
Hope you find one!
:) Dodie
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