Yes, that book that every English teacher on the planet makes you read in high school. I’m not sure what made me want to read it again but it kept popping into my consciousness, little sign posts; references to the book on the internet that just happen to catch my eye.

When I was 17 I hardly paid it any notice. Just another stupid hoop. Half a century later I don’t feel that way. I finished the book this morning and then I wept. It effected me profoundly because I could identify with the main character Charlie.

I didn’t remember much about the book until I started to read, but I definitely remembered the end of the book and Charlie’s decline. While the circumstances for the character are different from my own, I couldn’t help but identify with the vanishing of a mind.

It makes me want to let go, and grip tightly at the same time. Let go of the fear and anger caused by my own vanishing memories and yet cling to the simple things that will remain.

They have been doing research on Alzheimer’s patients who played golf in their prime. At the end of the day when all else is gone, they could still swing a golf club. There are certain things that neither the mind or the body ever completely lets go of.

Maybe the grace of the book is to remind us of the fleeting nature of this temporal existence. And metaphorically to let us know that keeping score just isn’t that damn important.