#memoirquotes

[elephantsay]

At this point, I should explain what had happened to me since that summer day when I last hugged my dear and wise professor, and promised to keep in touch. I did not keep in touch.

tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

[elephantsay]

The class met on Tuesdays. It began after breakfast. The subject was The Meaning of Life. It was taught from experience.

tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

[elephantsay]

ALS is like a lit candle: it melts your nerves and leaves your body a pile of wax. Often, it begins with the legs and works its way up. You lose control of your thigh muscles, so that you cannot support yourself standing. You lose control of your trunk muscles, so that you cannot sit up straight. By the end, if you are still alive, you are breathing through a tube in a hole in your throat, while your soul, perfectly awake, is imprisoned inside a limp husk, perhaps able to blink, or cluck a tongue . . . the man frozen inside his own flesh.

tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

[elephantsay]

The lab report came back suggesting a neurological problem, and Morrie was brought in for yet another series of tests. In one of those tests, he sat in a special seat as they zapped him with electrical current-an electric chair, of sorts-and studied his neurological responses.

tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

[elephantsay]

Instead, I buried myself in accomplishments, because with accomplishments, I believed I could control things, I could squeeze in every last piece of happiness before I got sick and died, like my uncle before me, which I figured was my natural fate.

tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

[elephantsay]

Morrie would walk that final bridge between life and death, and narrate the trip.

tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

[elephantsay]

Before we leave, I hand my professor a present, a tan briefcase with his initials on the front. I bought this the day before at a shopping mall. I didn't want to forget him. Maybe I didn't want him to forget me.

tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

[elephantsay]

And all the heartfelt things we never get to say to those we love, Morrie said that day. His 'living funeral' was a rousing success.

tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom