Okay,
Reading yesterday's post back, I realized I could have written a lot more on this subject of Brooke and her story. I have in fact written a personal review on the book three years ago.. I have decided to include it here. I hope you enjoy it. Although, I'm sure that everyone who reads her story carries something different from the experience.
Here is the review:
As promised, here are my thoughts about life after reading MIRACLES HAPPEN.. The numbers are are the pages on which the quotes can be found. I would highly recommend the book.
It's been a long couple of days actually. After two days of nonstop reading, I finally finished Miracles Happen-The Brooke Ellison Story book. I didn't think I was going to,but I did. Once I got to the Brooke going to Harvard section, I couldn't put it down. Related to it a lot, I guess. I learned a lot from her book. She gave me a lot to think about when it comes to living life to the fullest.
The description of Annenberg dining hall and the people at Harvard reminded me so much of my college For example, the dining area, which Brooke compared to a chapel because of its stained class windows reminded me of the chapel at college. Also, I am looking forward to talking in the lunch room with my friends. Especially about the food we are getting served. I am looking forward to beings reunited with people I feel so comfortable sharing my time with as well as my faith. People like Rev. Adler who make you feel comfortable where ever you are in your walk. Like Brooke said, "It was his eloquence. When he spoke, he made you feel as if everything was wonderful and beautiful and there was nothing in this world anyone needed to be concerned about.". I am sure my friends feel the same way.
I also related to the conversation Jean had with Kysten about just not feeling like she measures I feel like that sometimes as well. Like I have to live up to be someone with great goals or ambitions or else what am I doing here. But at least I have my mind to indulge my creative side and share my knowledge and love with everyone around me. I sort of related to this quote," "After the loss of the use of her body, she had to develop for mind and she needed physical help that I could give her to do that."
One reason it was easy to relate to Brooke and her story is her obvious love for writing. It shows in her eloquent choice of words. The way she describes things makes it possible for you to actually imagine what Harvard looks like in your head. I have been told I have that ability as well.
During the remainder of the book, I was continually reminded about how blessed I am to be at the college I am at. I often tell people I feel like college is really where I began to find myself and "develop a life". It's because of the people I met there and the friends I made. I think this quote says it best from her book. "They [Brooke's friends] were so different but they became my friends; and that was the biggest reason why I knew Harvard was exactly where I was supposed to be!" So many times, I have been overwhelmed by how much had God has blessed me with my friends at college. Granted, many friends help me grow in different ways. But they each seem to come along at the right time and place. I think Jean said it best when she said "As had been the case so many times before, someone had come through her door at a time when she (Brooke) most needed it. Isn't it that way with all of us, people often walk into our lives at the right time, we just have to recognize it when it happens."(200).
Another idea I found quite interesting is the idea of "shopping" for classes. This is Harvard's way of helping students choose what classes they would like to take. During that week, student can go into any class they choose for however long and decide if they want to take that class. Then they register. I can just see my college doing that. They might get irritated.
I don't know how to start this next paragraph. I think it's important that people remember everyone suffers in life. This quote that really touched me was,""Do you?" I asked, "Everyone is suffering in one form or another. No one on this planet has a monopoly on pain. It's what we do that matters. If we all sat and focused on what we' didn't have, we'd all the miserable. I'm not minimizing what you're going through, but when you start thinking like this you need to redirect your thoughts to the good things in your life, and there are so many good things." (Jean, 200)
As I was finishing the book today, I was listening to music as well on the Christian Contemporary station. I was struck by the similarities of a quote I was reading at the time and a song I was listening to. The quote was, "The journey has its own reward", the music I was listening to-Big Daddy Weave ' In Christ'. The lyrics that caught my interest were "I wait for my reward". To most people, they may seem like complete opposites, but it kind of makes sense to me because sometimes we are allowed special blessings on the way to our ultimate reward
Finally, I would like to leave this Journal with a final thought that sums up everything, I have said up until now and in previous posts. "We are not random dots of dust floating aimlessly without any greater purpose; we are here for each other. Our purpose here is to be miracles for each other" (261)
Another point of interest for my readers might be the Brooke Ellison blog, which she just recently created. Her blog can be found at the following website address :
http://brookeellison.blogspot.com/