The Moment is about life-changing stories… of 125 writers and
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artists… and me.
Do you recall “the moment” in your past when something so significant happened that it was literally life-changing? If so, you’ll enjoy the 125 stories in The Moment, a book of “wild, poignant, life-changing stories from 125 writers and artists famous and obscure.”
In this book, edited by Larry Smith (of 6-Word Memoirs fame), 125 writers and artists submitted (very) short stories of a moment or an event that instantly changed their lives. Usually it was an awakened awareness caused by an unexpected event, an illness, the death of a loved one or a life-broadening experience.
Mary Elizabeth Williams takes us on a journey into her mind the day she gets the phone call that tells her she has
cancer. In a single paragraph, while worrying about a writing deadline, Williams travels from “I guess this means I could die pretty soon” to “But who will pick up the kids at camp?”
Haylee Harrell describes the afternoon recess at school during which she learns that people can hate you because of the color of your skin.
Michael Castleman remembers the evening his mother refused to make supper because she was reading a book. He explains that his mother was devoted to the family, served meals like clockwork and never changed her routine… until she started reading Leon Uris’s Exodus. That’s when Michael recognized that books could take over your life while you are immersed in them. That’s when he decided to become a writer.
Hope Rehak recalls a day familiar to many of us. She was just twelve years old on 9/11 and wondered why her parents were glued to the television set. She can still hear the words they said to her: “They have to find someone to blame.” And she tries to hide under the blankets where the new world can’t touch her yet.
The Moment contains 125 stories of real people feeling their way through something they weren’t expecting, whet
her it was the event itself or their reaction to it. You can read more “moments” at SmithMag.net… and even submit stories of your own.
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In fact, the book inspired me to look at my own life-changing moment. Here it is:
The Floating Purple Head Made Me a Believer
When I began my studies at a metaphysical college, I had to take some of what was taught on faith. A portion of the material was so far outside my experience that, while I could intellectually get what they were saying, I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.
Until I did. See it. With my eyes wide open.
I was taking beginner classes, but many of my fellow students were way ahead of me in clairvoyant abilities. I’m still not particularly clair-anything twenty-five years later, but once in a while I’ll see or hear something that shoots my understanding to another level.
Like the first time I saw a purple head hovering next to my teacher.
All during our 2-hour class, I couldn’t keep my eyes off the large purple head floating slightly above and to the right of Karen, our course instructor. Karen was almost 6 feet tall, so seeing this apparition that high above her was quite remarkable. And the head itself was a slightly odd shape, larger on top by a considerable amount.
When I asked about the purple head after class, Karen cleared up the mystery. She told me that I was seeing her spirit guide, Abdullah, who wore a turban and always came through in the color purple. His head was so far off the ground because she always saw him sitting on a “flying carpet.”
This explained the strange shape on top of his head and the reason he was riding so high in the room.
Abdullah’s purple head was my first clear-seeing episode and by far the most dramatic. It helped that the details were verified by a trusted, highly clairvoyant teacher.
After you witness something that “isn’t possible,” you can’t unwitness it.
Now I knew for certain that other dimensions are filled with life and that they intersect with our own spaces and times.
What a springboard for an expanded viewpoint of Life… and a perspective that stretches to eternity.
Even now, I can see Abdullah’s head as clear as day, when I think about that first time. And it still blows me away.
What’s your life-changing story?
What story would you write for posterity? As Larry Smith says in his introduction to the book, “These stories hit us where we live.”
When I showed this story to my son, he was surprised because I’d never told him about it before. Until I started writing and saw myself sitting in class staring at Abdullah’s purple turbaned head, I’d almost forgotten the impact it had on my understanding of the multi-dimensionality of life. What I knew before was nothing compared to what I could glimpse behind the door that was just starting to open before my eyes.
The 125 stories in this book each have outstanding moments like this. And you can’t stop reading them. Even when it’s past your bed-time and you know you have to get up for work the next morning. They make you think… and remember. And think some more.
If you enjoy reading “zinger” books like this, you might be interested in my review of another memoir book from Smith Magazine. It’s called It All Changed In An Instant: More Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous & Obscure.
