LOVE, Kloudiia

Would Mitch laugh or sulk if he knew I had conveniently stolen his best-selling book title as the idea for the title of a blog in this humble little space? Judging by how friendly and warm he was by our very brief meeting, I doubt he would be upset.

Mitch Albom happily signing his name away!

Yes, I finally met up with this international best-selling author of Tuesdays With Morrie (now you know where my blog title came from!), 5 People You Meet In Heaven, For One More Day and the latest addition to his family of inspirational books – Have A Little Faith.

Arriving 35 minutes ahead of the scheduled starting time for his autograph session at Books Kinokuniya at Takashimaya, I wasn’t prepared for the long queue before me. Already, one could feel the intense anticipation in the air. It was pretty welcoming, I thought.

Morrie, I mean, Mitch, arrived to hordes of screaming from his fans who had gathered in front of the mini stage and at the sides where the long human snakes were. It was such sheer pleasure to stand there and hear this man out. He spoke about his journey of writing his latest book Have A Little Faith, and of course, about the first book that shot him to international fame, Tuesdays With Morrie.

As I stood there among the sea of heads listening to Mitch, I began to wonder what an extremely, absolutely wonderful feeling it must be to be able to have such a great reception from your fans. To be able to reach out to millions of people and touch their lives in one way or other through your words is my dream as a writer. And I’m dead sure I’m not alone in having this dream.

Through the stories writers write,  they bring their readers on a journey with them.  Along the way, the writer and the reader learn from each other.  They come together in one in mind and spirit. It is an unspeakable sense of satisfaction and fulfillment. It brings meaning to the words. It brings meaning to the readers life, and even more so, the writer’s life and purpose.

Mitch, obviously, knew about this too. Because as I was lost in these thoughts and dreams, he encouraged people who are writers, or aspiring to be, to never give up when others tell them they can’t. Fortunately, he never did give up when publishers rejected his manuscript of Tuesdays With Morrie. Otherwise, we would have missed out one of the greatest works in the world.

After I came back, I replayed the brief encounter I had with Mitch, who came with his beautiful wife. It was a very pleasant one, with short exchanges as I waited for him to sign my books. I was beginning to imagine this: me him and our loved ones relaxing at a nice, cosy cafe and talking about life, dreams, goals, passion, interests, and of course, writing. We can talk all night! Well, another dream that I’m weaving. Oh well …

At the same time, I thought about what he said on stage. And I realised I remembered this better than the rest. He said the reason why publishers rejected his first book was because they felt that people wouldn’t be interested to read about dying.

Strangely, after reading Tuesdays With Morrie, dying was the least thing on my mind.

On the contrary, I feel that this book is about living. Truly living.

This book remains as my top favourite.

Until I finish reading Have A Little Faith, that is! (I already have the feeling that it won’t beat Tuesdays haha)

Thank you Mitch for bringing inspiration, hope, love and warm to this world.

Group photo with Mitch and his wife