Revisiting an old friend

I like to read and read a lot. When I was in high school, I could never get enough of Charles Dickens. This past week I reread David Copperfield. I was astonished at how differently I understood it this time around. How perceptive Dr. Strong's wife's words are when she speaks of "the first mistaken impulse of an undisciplined heart" and when "there can be no disparity in marriage like unsuitability of mind and purpose" when seen through the eyes of a failed marriage.

Like most, I listened to my "undisciplined heart" and did not acknowledge the "unsuitability of mind and purpose". I did not heed the intuition that the person I loved with all my heart had very different views than I on important matters, such as religion and child rearing.

So we parted our ways a long time ago. I have learned to "discipline my heart" and have raised my child. I have suffered and have grown through that suffering.

David Copperfield grew through his suffering also. When I first read it, I didn't really comprehend how much he had suffered and how much he had grown in that suffering.

Perceptions change with age and it did me good to reread this favorite of mine.