I can’t remember the reasoning behind why I wanted to read Christopher Reeve’s memoir, but I’m really glad I did. A lot of the book is incredibly heavy and heartbreaking since he goes into such detail about his accident and the aftermath of not walking again. He really doesn’t sugarcoat any of his experiences so it makes the book incredibly raw - he was brave as hell to write it. Best parts ahead.
When he’s talking about almost missing his first child’s birth: “I rushed up the stairs and into Gae’s room just as Matthew appeared. As soon as he was breathing, I had the privilege of handing him to Gae, who was crying from both exhaustion and joy. Instead of bawling at the top of his lungs, as I had expected, Matthew snuggled in quietly and drifted off to sleep. But just before he dozed off, he opened one eye and looked right at me. It seemed to me that he was asking, “Who are you?” And then, satisfied that I was meant to be there, he fell asleep. I think that look of complete acceptance from my first child within moments of his birth somehow taught me the most important lesson about being a parent: unconditional love is everything.”
He filmed a movie (Somewhere in Time) at Mackinac Island on Lake Michigan and it sounds like an incredible place (cars are banned on the whole island) so now I have to go at some point in my life.
I’d completely forgotten about the song Red River Valley (and this weep-worthy rendition of it that I love).
I had no idea he was so close with Robin Williams, I love that.
“People often ask me what it’s like to have sustained a spinal cord injury and be confined to a wheelchair. Apart from all the medical complications, I would say the worst part of it is leaving the physical world - having had to make the transition from participant to observer long before I would have expected. I think most of us are prepared to give up cherished physical activities gradually as we age. I certainly wouldn’t be competing in combined training events in my sixties or skiing nearly as fast as I used to. If I went sailing in my later years I wouldn’t go single-handed. Stronger hands and more agile bodies would be needed to raise and trim the sails or steer in a heavy sea. The difference is that I would have had time to prepare for other ways of enjoying the things I love to do most. But to have it all change and have most of it taken away at age forty-two is devastating. As much as I remind myself that being is more important than doing, that the quality of relationships is the key to happiness, I’m actually putting on a brave face. I do believe those things are true, but I miss freedom, spontaneity, action, and adventure more than I can say.”
“When the first Superman movie came out, I gave dozens of interviews to promote it. The most frequently asked question was: “What is a hero?” I remember how easily I’d talk about it, the glib response I repeated so many times. My answer was that a hero is someone who commits a courageous action without considering the consequences. Now my definition is completely different. I think a hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles. The fifteen-year-old boy down the hall at Kessler <his hospital> who had landed on his head while wrestling with his brother, leaving him paralyzed and barely able to swallow or speak. Travis Roy, paralyzed in the first eleven seconds of a hockey game in his freshman year at college. Henry Steifel, paralyzed from the chest down in a car accident at seventeen, completing his education and working on Wall Street at age thirty-two, but having missed so much of what life has to offer. These are the real heroes, and so are the families and friends who have stood by them.”
Just an incredible book.