Miles to Go by Richard Paul Evans
The second installment of Richard Paul Evans’ Walk Series Journal does not disappoint. I have just finished Miles to Go (ISBN#1-4391-9137-8) and I am continuing to mull the wisdom that I have gleaned.
And with what would we compare emotional pain – physical pain? Arguably, emotional pain is the greater of the two evils…If I had a choice between being stabbed or losing my wife, MccKale, again, the kife has the advantage – because if the knife kills me, I stop huring. If it doesn’t kill me, the wound will heal. Either way the pain stops. But no matter what I do, my McKale is never coming back. And I can’t imagine that the pain in my heart will ever go away.
Still there is hope – not to forget McKale, nor even to understand why I had to lose her – but to accept that I did and somehow go on. – from “Miles to Go”. p.2.
The character, Alan, continues to trek from Seattle, WA to Key West, FL and finds out that healing comes in many kinds of treatment. While I did enjoy the first book, The Walk, as Alan continues his journey he is reflecting more of the characteristics of my own journey. And maybe this is the best message of this series. We are not alone. There are many sojourners in this path of grief, of which none of us made reservations or requested this particular trip. But the reservation will come to all no matter how we may attempt to delay or avoid the summons. Each of us must decide, as Alan must, whether we will choose to walk towards the mountain that leads to a spring of gratitude for having known and loved the person or towards the mountain that leads to a fountain of bitterness because life is unfair.
The third journal will not be out until April 2012. Sigh. Can’t Alan walk faster?