Wednesday, April 28, 2010

What it takes to survive and endure . . .

I have come to the end. Or at least the end of this draft and so I think about what it means to outlive. To live on. I have left the sisters on the rooftop at Columbia. They have things to say to each other, and to find out what, you'll have to read the book. I have come to admire both of them. One was truly an amazing woman, we all know about her. Or think we do. Because the Amelia Earhart who was always in the public eye was very cautious about showing herself. I admire her caution. And am drawn in by it. I want to know her and believe I do know my version of who she is/was. I find her to be remarkably assured, willful, brave, stubborn and willing to take whatever chances she got. I think she was lucky. And I believe she made her own luck. That is an American ideal isn't it, forging your own new version of self. She did it. That's part of why her mystery endures. It's not just the mystery of her death, it's how she managed to be and do so much when she was alive.

And then there's Muriel. Muriel seems easier. She was a mother, a teacher, a wife. She stayed close to home and kept her sister's memory alive. Intact. Shaped it very carefully. I am positive there are things she kept completely private. It's wonderful territory for a novelist, imagining the younger sister taking charge of the older . . . once she is no longer around to tell her younger sibling what to do. There must have been a satisfaction in it, however bittersweet.

Of course my own experience has informed all of this. I have a sister, and many many friends. I find my friendships with other women to be one of the greatest pleasures of my life. This book is about those close bonds between women, ones that have made my life immeasurably richer. Without them, I would have been lost.

14 comments:

  1. Grown women in their (or at least Muriel's) 80's sitting on the roof? I love it! Climbing trees isn't just for kids!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I checked, the guardrail seems a bit minimal up there and you can still climb out on the roof. Kind of amazing really, considering.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I hope you will keep blogging your thoughts about the novel even though the draft is finished?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Aren't you nice. You know I will . . .

    ReplyDelete
  5. Congratulations on finishing your novel! You must feel like you are sitting on top of a summit, in a way, as you left the two sisters. You are thorough in checking to see that it still is actually possible to climb on the roof of the Columbia library. I look forward to reading your book, and to continuing posts about its journey towards publication. It has been fun to sort of vicariously participate in the birthing of a novel through reading your blog and sharing comments. Thanks for having us along for the journey, and for the continuing journey as it unfolds.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thank you Colleen. Yes I will continue on here, delving into the process and the angst. Nothing like sending your work out to bring it on. Your support is most appreciated.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Re Colleen's comment, we may have sympathetic birthing pains. Oooh! Ow!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hopefully not as bad as the reality of giving birth, then again that's actually over fairly quickly so maybe I am hoping for that. Just for once a nice advance, a preempt, hey I could sure use it. There are squirrels living in my attic.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I just thought of something ... you said Schlesinger had a lock of Amelia's hair. Is it a lock of baby hair with the baby book? Or adult hair? I'm thinking of TIGHAR's need for comparison DNA should they ever find a DNA-bearing artifact on Nikumaroro.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I think it's baby hair, hers. You can check. Wouldn't they have done that? You'd think so.

    ReplyDelete
  11. TIGHAR does have a sample of mitochondrial DNA donated by a female relative of Amelia's; mtDNA is supposed to be the same for all females in a maternal lineage. I'm not sure whether TIGHAR is aware of this lock of hair. But then again, the mtDNA might be better for comparison because it wouldn't be contaminated by other people handling it, as the exterior of the hairs would be.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Yes, I know about that. Thoughts on Tighar's theory? I use it in my book, it seems plausible to me. . .

    ReplyDelete
  13. I think they're on the right track. They've been investigating more than 20 years now, and I don't think the clues would keep falling into place as they do if there were another explanation for the artifacts on Nikumaroro.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hey, meant to check back and didn't till now, glad you agree on this. I find it really fascinating.

    ReplyDelete