Guest post from The Boy, age 11.

“If something sad happens, you should always move on. What you shouldn’t do is forget. For example, in a book you place bookmarks where you left off. Think about it like your life is a big book. The sad and happy things are what you bookmark. My friends are moving to North Carolina. They are some of my longest and best friends. I will miss them a lot! I will always remember the happy/fun times we had including the sad. You should always cherish your memories.”

Well I’ll be damned. Love that. How does he know I talk about writing our own stories? I don’t know, but let me tell you, I am so proud of him. I asked him more about this analogy.

He said he bookmarks important parts of the books he reads. So he can go back and re-read them later. To mark them as important. He went on to say we should do that with life, put virtual bookmarks to mark the passage of important events. Sad events, happy events. Anything worth remembering.

He said using these bookmarks are important because you don’t want to stop reading and get stuck. You want to move on and keep reading. So you mark it as important, let it go, and keep going. He said it’s important to let things go so you can keep going on, but know those bookmarks are there when you want to revisit them.

I really love this idea. I want to take it one step further though, to writing our stories. I don’t want to just read my story. I believe we write our own narratives, our own plot lines, our own climaxes and redemptions and endings. I don’t want to get stuck in a sad place. In fact, I don’t want to get stuck in a happy place either. There’s no opportunity for growth then. So bookmarking these events to revisit later, if desired, sounds about right to me. It allows for acceptance and letting go and forward movement.

I’m really looking forward to reading The Boy’s life story as he continues to write and bookmark. I wonder who will play me in the movie version of his book?