12 Comments
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Kelly Fowler's avatar

I like how you reflect on Ecuador through this arrival. Such a cool way to reveal and set up what’s to come. And dear Gaby!!! Ugh. She was everything. I can picture your beautiful thoughtful courageous and hopeful face in the terminal windows at KCI, in the plane seat, in the bus, and in the window of your new apartment. And I don’t know why, but I wonder if you had that big gifted jar of mayo in your suitcase. LY

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Michelle Ray's avatar

Thank you! I added these flashbacks to Ecuador to give the reader a fuller picture I where the narrator is coming from...hopefully it's enough background cuz childhood and teen years is a whole other memoir!

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chad ray's avatar

If I could just change my surroundings, maybe I could change myself.

If only it were that easy. Great piece.

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Michelle Ray's avatar

I know, right, life seems so obvious when you aren't right in the middle of it. No one wants to believe that they are the reason for their suffering, but it is often true.

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WriteLove's avatar

That is the age-old question. but somethimes change provokes change.

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Geoffrey Gevalt's avatar

definitely the most important sentence, in my mind: "If I could just change my surroundings, maybe I could change myself." ... why do you bury it.

I like this. I really do. I feel like you are getting deeper into it, almost like these first two were lead-ins, for us to get to know you a bit. I will read 3 tomorrow. I'll comment longer on that one.

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Michelle Ray's avatar

Thank you for reading and for your feedback. The memoir spans a 10 year period so I spend the first few chapter delving into the narrator and the situation. Basically the whole books is about that quote, how I kept thinking a change of scene would change me, they call it a doing a geographical in AA. I’m working on my final revisions of the mms so the feedback I’m getting on Substack really helps.

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WriteLove's avatar

"My life hovered in that same transitional space, partly unconscious, but still moving through familiar patterns, while some hidden part awakened." Such a relatable line, whether you travel or not. Maybe we should get more comfortable in those transitional spaces, probably a lot to learn there.

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Michelle Ray's avatar

Good point but they are scary places to be at times

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jybyky's avatar

Great writing. Finding yourself, your true self, is something very important. When you truly find your true self, then that is freedom.

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Michelle Ray's avatar

Thank you. I appreciate your comments and that’s a very insightful definition of freedom.

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WriteLove's avatar

True, that is why we are here, to find ourselves.

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