Tuesdays with Morrie, Wednesdays with Oscar

Posted on | October 23, 2010 | 1 Comment

My daughter and her friend started a book club on Facebook that I joined and the past 2 weeks we discussed the book Tuesdays with Morrie subtitled an old man, a young man and life’s greatest lesson.  The book is a true story about Morrie a very special college professor who touched Mitch’s life in a very profound way.  At graduation Mitch gives Morrie a gift and promises to stay in touch.    Then life happens and Mitch is caught up in it (career, money, marriage etc).   One day he hears on television that Morrie Schwartz is dying of a terminal illness called ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) an unforgiving illness of the neurological system that ends in a death.  The disease usually begins in the legs and works it way up.  By the end, if you are still alive, you may be breathing through a tube in a hole in your throat.  Morrie was told he had two years left but he suspected it would be less.

Morrie made death his final project as everybody is going to die and most societies have always been afraid of it without really understanding it.  Mitch re-connects with Morrie after more than 20 years and travels to his home to spend every Tuesday with him until he dies.  This incredible book that is all about what it means to be human, is Mitch and Morrie’s thesis on life and how to live it.  It talks about regrets, death, family, emotions, the fear of aging, money, marriage, forgiveness etc.  Mitch tells Morrie he doesn’t know how to say goodbye, but he does really and the touch, tenderness and tears he has learned all prove it.  The book is excellent and it is a small book that can be read in just a few hours.  I read it on two Wednesdays while Oscar my beautiful 8 month old grandson slept in my arms.  (I babysit him every Wednesday.) It’s a tear jerker anyway, and maybe my menopausal hormones added to it but this young life in my arms who shows me unconditional love with his hugs, while reading this book was a peak experience for me.  I might add that the lights were out, only natural sunshine lit the room and I was playing some beautiful CDs by Peter Kater  on the stereo.  Just like this dying man showed what it is to be human so did this new baby.  He woke up and I was reading and crying.  He slobbered on my face which is how he kisses and looked at me with those big all knowing eyes.  Wednesdays with Oscar while reading Tuesdays with Morrie will remain with me for a long time and warm my heart.

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