It was movie night last night, another chance to watch Lark Rise to Candleford, and a brief bit of dialog in this episode hit me hard. It was a conversation between two people who live in different social spheres, and rather than making them strangers, it frees them to speak boldly to one another in a way those closer cannot.
Ruby Pratt (to Walter Arliss, recently returned home from many months at sea): Why must you always run away?
Walter: It ain't running away. It's the call of the ocean.
Ruby: Well, perhaps that's what you believe. But I know, you see. I am the child of a father who took to the road. I don't think anybody runs away TO. I believe we run away FROM. That's what I see in your face now...
Walter: I don't know how to be with them. I ain't got the legs for it. The soul for it. I fail them every time. I go because I see they're better off without me.
Ruby: Go home. Go and be with your family. Don't tell them about your tales of the sea. Ask about them. Their day. Their lives. Meet them. Try to see them.
I know I'm intruding, but I could not live with myself if I did not tell you what I know to be true. What goes on in a child's heart when her father runs.
Please. Try. For one day. Surely we can do for one day that which seems impossible for a lifetime.
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3 comments:
I love the last part of this quote. I think I need it printed in capital letters above my study carrel.
Love, love, love.
I feel the same way, Allison. I want it somewhere I can see it each day. Good words to live (write, study, clean, parent, love) by.
Love to you,
Auntie Di
I watched a few Lark Rise episodes and this was in one of them.
I, too, thought it an amazing conversation. Beautiful!
I had the books on my "to read" list but life got in the way. Hopefully I can read them this winter.
I hear the series is not exactly like the books.
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