Anyone can become bat-shit crazy. And AOAs are ok with that.
From abc news:
While boarding a plane in July, Lisa Niemi sent a text message to her husband, the actor Patrick Swayze. Even though he died of pancreatic cancer a year ago Tuesday. It could have been a scene out of"Ghost," the romantic comedy starring Swayze and Demi Moore. Niemi, 54, said it helps her feel his presence.
Her behavior is not unusual, say psychologists who help grieving spouses. In fact, it is normal -- a kind of "magical thinking."
Joan Didion coined the term in her 2005 memoir, "The Year of Magical Thinking," about the death of her husband John Gregory Dunne.
In the days after Dunne collapsed of a heart attack before her at dinner, Didion wrote she was afraid to give away his shoes, for fear that he would return and need them.
Vicki Kennedy, the widow of Sen. Ted Kennedy, who died of brain cancer a year ago, said his absence in their Washington home is palpable: "Teddy's in every room."
Some might almost call this prayer - an intangible one-sided conversation with an entity that scientifically doesn't exist - and yet has tangible effects on the faithful participant.
ReplyDeleteThe Year of Magical Thinking broke my heart. I cannot imagine having love that exists somehow in between two planes of existence, a love and grief that hangs in the air, but I know that at some point, we will all feel it.
ReplyDeleteI love ya, Cath.