Project E.P.L. (Eat.Pray.Love)

Back in August, Kristan and I went to see Eat.Pray.Love. I hadn't read the book, only knew it had Julia Roberts in it and that it looked excellent. I sat through the movie, laughed and cried. There were so many parts that really spoke to my heart. So many things were said that made me nod my head and think, "How true."

A few weeks before seeing the movie, a church friend found me crying in the bathroom. Her and her husband counsel couples who are divorcing. She was speaking with me, comforting me, and said, "Grief is grief. Grieving a lost child is similar to grieving a lost marriage. You go through the same steps, the same phases." At the time I looked at her and was shocked. How dare she compare my loss to a divorce! I now apologize for those thoughts. I know she wasn't comparing the depth of my loss, but really just the process in general.

For those of you who haven't read or seen Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat.Pray.Love, I want to give a brief description before heading into my project. It is a story of grief after divorce, and her search through it all to find her new self. The book is broken down into beads instead of chapters. The breakdown of beads is from the traditional japa mala that is worn during meditation. There are 108 beads. (How's that for brief?)

I decided a few months after seeing the movie that I wanted to read the book and really tear into it. I wanted to take thoughts she had, experiences she lived and compare them to my journey through grief. Then share it here. It's going to be a fun project that may take only six months or a whole year. My plan is to do a bead or two per week. Journal my thoughts and some quotes, and write it all down here. I will have a tab at the top with links to the different entries, so if you miss one, they will all be easy to find.

Throughout the project I really encourage everyone to comment with their own thoughts. You don't have to be a blogger to comment, or have a gmail account. You can always comment as Anonymous and sign your name at the bottom.