TAKE NOTE: SCRIBBLING
FROM ONE YEAR TO THE NEXT

Journal of Healing – Jan. 15, 2003

By Mary Koch

Thanks to many years of news reporting, I always carry a little notebook with me. I no longer gather notes for news stories. I jot shopping lists, miscellaneous telephone numbers, notes from doctor's appointments and reminders of books to find at the library.

Amidst the ordinary are occasional gems. I write down my husband's comments as he spells them out for me, letter by letter, with his eye-blink system of "speaking." I scribble tantalizing comments I read or hear. I jot down the seed of an idea that might grow into something someday.

I started a new notebook for 2003. Before I tucked 2002 away in the file cabinet I gleaned a few notations, one for every month. (I love day-by-day calendars, but hey! I'm a busy woman. Month-by-month is the best I can do.)

JANUARY: "Suddenly you're looking in the rear view mirror and noticing something you haven't seen before. It's called history." Robert Redford commenting on the 20th anniversary of the Sundance Film Festival, but I think his words pretty well capture the aging process.

FEBRUARY: "My life has been full of terrible misfortunes, most of which never happened." Attributed to the 16th Century French essayist, Michel Montaigne, a reminder to forego pointless worry about the morrow.

MARCH: "Mary needs me." My husband, John E. Andrist, explaining why it's important for him to continue to live despite severe disabilities. And he's right.

APRIL: "Rotate your tires every 5,000 miles and get an alignment once or twice a year." Advice from a tire shop employee.

MAY: "I am a lot of trouble." John again. At first I thought he was being apologetic or feeling sorry for himself. Then he explained that what he meant was, it is complicated caring for a body that cannot move or eat without help, whether it is your own or someone else's. Complicated, yes. Trouble, no.

JUNE: "What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." Poster on John's therapist's wall.

JULY: "The word 'healing' means more than relief from symptoms or distress. In the psychological sense, healing involves a state of profound acceptance that is free of remorse or sorrow." Peg Elliott Mayo, psychotherapist, found at www.rivervoices.com.

AUGUST: "Go where you hurt the most. There's an area in your life where you don't want to go. Go there." Novelist Francine Rivers' advice to writers.

SEPTEMBER: "Sometimes the best thing to get is what you don't want to get." Writer Sandra Johnson, noting that her failure to get a magazine article published resulted in a book she did get published.