I'm not a huge Dean Koontz fan. Don't get me wrong, I've read several of his books. My favorites are the "Odd Thomas" books. I am an avid Stephen King fan. I love all his books. I love the character development, and the way the things he writes about really could happen. There really could be a dog named Cujo that is Rabid. Any of us could get out on a secluded road with miles between farms. Any of us could be attacked by said rabid dog, especially a St. Bernard that weighs well over 100 lbs. Really it could happen. I think that's what draws me to King. The very real possibility that one day some crazed maniac could hack into cell phones and kill everyone on their phones, or make them zombie like to do the evil guys bidding. Something evil could really live in the fog, and that clown in "It", well let's not go there.
I am in the middle of the Dean Koontz "Odd Thomas" series (Odd Hours) . I Love Oddy. He's a wonder and very philosophical man. I read the following one afternoon. Odd and Birdie were discussing the death of her husband. She mentions "many tears, they seem to wash somethin' out of you, they leave this emptiness". Odd answers, and then decides to "fumble out what I thought she might want to say herself"..
I read and re-read the next paragraph. I finally got out the green highlighter pen and marked it. I don't think I've ever heard anyone explain grief in quite this way. It was something I felt but just couldn't express in words. I haven't experienced the death of a spouse, but I have lost grandparents, parents, siblings, and friends. I'm quite sure this is exactly how losing a life mate, a soul mate might feel. Thank you Mr. Koontz for finding a way to take deep unexplainable feelings and put them on a page to be digested. You have moved up a notch on my favorite writers stick. To be honest you are now #2, which would be super cool except for the fact that there are only 2 writers on my stick. (I don't count the Bible since the Author is God and His writings are far above any that man could pen) I have read a lot for years, but couldn't tell you the name of any writer. You can find more of Dean Koontz's work Here.
" Grief can destroy you - or focus you. You can decide a relationship was all for nothing if it had to end in death, and you alone. Or you can realize that every moment of it had more meaning than you dared to recognize at the time, so much meaning it scared you, so you just lived, just took for granted the love and laughter of each day, and didn't allow yourself to consider the sacredness of it. But when it's over and you're alone, you begin to see it wasn't just a movie and a dinner together, not just watching sunsets together, not just scrubbing a floor or washing dishes together or worrying over a high electric bill. It was everything., it was the why of life, every event and precious moment of it. The answer to the mystery of existence is the love you shared sometimes so imperfectly, and when the loss wakes you to the deeper beauty of it, to the sanctity of it, you can't get off your knees for a long time, you're driven to your knees not by the weight of the loss but by the gratitude for what preceded the loss. And the ache is always there, but one day not the emptiness, because to nurture the emptiness, to take solace in it, is to disrespect the gift of life."
~Dean Koontz Odd Hours 2008~
Thank you Mr. Koontz for using your talent with words to speak what I feel in my heart..
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