It's come to this. You survive. You return. You expect a warm welcome, or some welcome surely. And then no one knows you. No one knows what you've been through, or what you've done. You're Ms. Robinson Crusoe, the world has moved on. Worse, you're supposed to be dead, so why would you walk around saying you're alive? There are even people who impersonate you for a living. You're an historical figure. Girls dress up for their elementary school classes as you and tell your life story.
That's where Amelia is, and it makes me think about fame. She didn't know she'd become so famous, but once she did, she valued what she had. She burnished her fame. Why not when it brought financial security, a platform to press for change, and a way to get into the cockpit.
In middle age does anyone have the courage to start over? Would she? And how would she go about it? Yes, she'd ache to fly, but wouldn't she also want to be known. She might have had mixed feelings about being recognized, many do. Actors and actresses court fame, but also find the loss of privacy distressing. Still once you've had it, how do you manage without it? Especially when it's become part of what makes you who you are. She's on a journey now to discover what matters most to her. And there are some surprising things to learn. Fame is a drug they say, no one is immune . . .
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Guess you just do something else--- you move on. Your right though about fame. I wasn't famous, but I had established a fairly well-known reputation in my field and managed a branch office of a company in L.A. when the office was shut down and I was left unemployed. I could have stayed in that industry and retained my contacts, but instead I figured after 20 years I'd move on and start over. Kind of the same as Amelia coming back from her island I suppose?
ReplyDeleteIt surely could be. I'm thinking a lot about second chances and what we make of them. In this particular economic climate it seems to happen more and more, although most of us don't have the luxury of seeing them as an opportunity, we're too busy trying to figure out how to put food on the table. Still, Amelia is in 1980, so she gets cut some slack, that and she is, of course Amelia.
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