Cat's Eye

This book made me think about two different things. Margaret Atwood is a master at telling stories simultaneously in the past and the present. Her books weave an event in the main character's present with the story of their life in the past. Her ability to do this has always made me wonder, when it comes time for the "critical" event in my life, what things from my past am I going to remember? What events have had the most influence on me? Obviously there's no way that I can remember everything about my life, so what events am I going to remember when I'm in my thirties, in my forties, etc? I guess that's why the Church is so adament about writing in journals and writing a personal history. Journaling is something I've always tried to be good at, but sometimes I wonder if I'm recording the right things. The important events usually get into my journal, but one day am I going to look back and wish I had recorded more of the mundane things? I just don't have the time though. If I had a couple hours to write in my journal every day I probably could record everything that I want to, but as it stands, I just don't have that kind of time.

The other thing this book really made me think about is past relationships. During the story Elaine (the main character) sleeps with her ex-husband. She's been happily re-married to someone else for several years, but she doesn't feel guilty about cheating on her husband. She says that she's not being unloyal to him, she's just being loyal to something that came before him. That really struck a chord with me, because it's something that I've really been trying to figure out lately. At what point can you be friends with an ex and really enjoy their company without reverting back to romantic tendencies.

My ex-boyfriend and I have started talking a lot lately, and I haven't quite decided how I feel about it. Sure I love talking to him, but whenever we start talking again I start to like him again. Our friendship since the break-up has been pretty on/off. We'll be friends for awhile, I'll start to like him, and then I'll tell him that I need some time. I don't really know how he feels about it... I don't really know how I'd feel if someone said something like that to me. In high school when this happened I'd just start a fight that the guy couldn't win so that I could hate him until I quit liking him. I figure that being honest is probably a lot more emotionally healthy for both of us, but I wonder how he feels about it.