I would go back to the day I fell in love with my husband and our wedding day and lots of days when the kids were little just to hold them face to face again, in my arms, to smell their skin…to play with them.
In 1972 the newspaper I was writing for, the old Boston Herrald Traveler, folded. I applied for work at the Boston Globe, and also--a long shot since I had no advanced degree, a two-year gig teaching journalism at the University of NH. I vowed that if offers came, I would take the one that came first. UNH beat the globe by less than 24 hours, and I took the job. Had the Globe offer come first, I would have taken it. And my life would have been completely different. But I have never looked back. The two years turned into a 43-year teaching career, which I loved. And I continued to write. Favorite multiple lives novel: Kate Atkinson's masterpiece, "Life After Life."
Ah Betsy. Taking what you have and refashioning it, be it a novel or life, is all part of the game we play, the chances we take. Throwing the book you have inside you out of the window and catching a few typed sheets of paper as they fly by is another thing. Can you be sure you have caught the right ones? I wish you well in your endeavour.
Many many years ago I read a poem with this line: ‘Love has no end in view save parting’.* I have never found it again. It inspired me write my own in 2011. It was my first. It ends:
There is no going back
The past’s undone
The future beckons
Unknown certainty awaits.
There you have it.
*If anyone knows my ‘lost poem’, please let me know where I can read it. 🐰
A P.S. It has just dawned on me that I can often seem eager to post a comment when, the truth is, is 4am when you post and 12 noon in Middle England. Keep up the good work.🐰
I do remember all the seasons at UNH, although I was there only for two years and fled as soon as I could. Especially the winter of 1978, when the snow was deepdeepdeep. I strapped on my x-country skis to get to class, but no one was there when I got to campus. But I have fond memories — I think . . . I can't remember many. I did flunk a 1-credit hockey “class” because I quit going. My students were delighted when they found the F on my transcript. But I do remember wax pasteup at The New Hampshire and then driving the pages past midnight in that ancient station wagon with no heat down to the printer in Haverhill. If you care to, connect with me at ted.pease@gmail.com. Glad to know you're a huge online success.
Betsy — Andy Merton says you still go by Betsy. He says I must remember you. We did graduate from UNH in the same year, but my memories of that time are, um, grainy at best. Now, for my sins, as Mark Twain warned, I have reached the end of my career and God has made me a newspaper editor. Senior News! How funny is that?
PS: I note Merton's mention of the Herald Traveler below. I was maybe 14 when I delivered the Traveler and the Globe in Andover, Mass. — as I remember it, always hauling an overloaded sled through drifts. It couldn't always have been winter, could it?
And no do overs for me. My memories keep me warm. Every new day we can have a new slate so I look forward to seeing what I fill it in with. Some days it’s a grey nothing but some days become even fonder memories. I love those days.
Congratulations on your new draft! That’s a lot of work. I’m reading Casualties and loving it. You are such a terrific writer. Cannot wait to read your new book!
I had to sit on this question for a couple of days, because the first thing that came to mind was a time I regret and I didn't want to write about that right now. Today, I would like to revisit the evening my first play premiered at a women's festival before 250 women. I had written and directed it, and I've never been prouder than I was that night. I would absolutely love to relive that day.
I can't think of a do-over worth doing. Mine are usually silly regrets like "why'd I say THAT?" But I wouldn't trade my crazy life with all its ups and downs.
After some thought and reflection I decided that I couldn't reduce a "do-over" to just a single day; it would have to be a top 10, or 20, or 30. In the end I felt that my "do-over" list would change me into the person I am NOT today, so I will embrace each and every day that I was less than, and forget any thought of a do-over.
I would go back to the day I fell in love with my husband and our wedding day and lots of days when the kids were little just to hold them face to face again, in my arms, to smell their skin…to play with them.
In 1972 the newspaper I was writing for, the old Boston Herrald Traveler, folded. I applied for work at the Boston Globe, and also--a long shot since I had no advanced degree, a two-year gig teaching journalism at the University of NH. I vowed that if offers came, I would take the one that came first. UNH beat the globe by less than 24 hours, and I took the job. Had the Globe offer come first, I would have taken it. And my life would have been completely different. But I have never looked back. The two years turned into a 43-year teaching career, which I loved. And I continued to write. Favorite multiple lives novel: Kate Atkinson's masterpiece, "Life After Life."
Ah Betsy. Taking what you have and refashioning it, be it a novel or life, is all part of the game we play, the chances we take. Throwing the book you have inside you out of the window and catching a few typed sheets of paper as they fly by is another thing. Can you be sure you have caught the right ones? I wish you well in your endeavour.
Many many years ago I read a poem with this line: ‘Love has no end in view save parting’.* I have never found it again. It inspired me write my own in 2011. It was my first. It ends:
There is no going back
The past’s undone
The future beckons
Unknown certainty awaits.
There you have it.
*If anyone knows my ‘lost poem’, please let me know where I can read it. 🐰
A P.S. It has just dawned on me that I can often seem eager to post a comment when, the truth is, is 4am when you post and 12 noon in Middle England. Keep up the good work.🐰
I do remember all the seasons at UNH, although I was there only for two years and fled as soon as I could. Especially the winter of 1978, when the snow was deepdeepdeep. I strapped on my x-country skis to get to class, but no one was there when I got to campus. But I have fond memories — I think . . . I can't remember many. I did flunk a 1-credit hockey “class” because I quit going. My students were delighted when they found the F on my transcript. But I do remember wax pasteup at The New Hampshire and then driving the pages past midnight in that ancient station wagon with no heat down to the printer in Haverhill. If you care to, connect with me at ted.pease@gmail.com. Glad to know you're a huge online success.
Betsy — Andy Merton says you still go by Betsy. He says I must remember you. We did graduate from UNH in the same year, but my memories of that time are, um, grainy at best. Now, for my sins, as Mark Twain warned, I have reached the end of my career and God has made me a newspaper editor. Senior News! How funny is that?
PS: I note Merton's mention of the Herald Traveler below. I was maybe 14 when I delivered the Traveler and the Globe in Andover, Mass. — as I remember it, always hauling an overloaded sled through drifts. It couldn't always have been winter, could it?
And no do overs for me. My memories keep me warm. Every new day we can have a new slate so I look forward to seeing what I fill it in with. Some days it’s a grey nothing but some days become even fonder memories. I love those days.
Congratulations on your new draft! That’s a lot of work. I’m reading Casualties and loving it. You are such a terrific writer. Cannot wait to read your new book!
I had to sit on this question for a couple of days, because the first thing that came to mind was a time I regret and I didn't want to write about that right now. Today, I would like to revisit the evening my first play premiered at a women's festival before 250 women. I had written and directed it, and I've never been prouder than I was that night. I would absolutely love to relive that day.
Thanks for the shout out!
I can't think of a do-over worth doing. Mine are usually silly regrets like "why'd I say THAT?" But I wouldn't trade my crazy life with all its ups and downs.
After some thought and reflection I decided that I couldn't reduce a "do-over" to just a single day; it would have to be a top 10, or 20, or 30. In the end I felt that my "do-over" list would change me into the person I am NOT today, so I will embrace each and every day that I was less than, and forget any thought of a do-over.