Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic The Long Road Home Part 26 - Comments

You can thank (or blame) the Son of Snowmaggedon blizzard for the current posting schedule. Thanks for reading and commenting.

Regards,

Rac

I agree with Dr. Friskin. It was good to hear Clark finally say that.

Wow 2 parts in 1 week. I loved them both. And I especially loved the "perfect" discussion. It hit home for me today. I was struggling with the need for everything to be perfect this week and it was especially strong today. I then read this part and it hit home for me. It was perfect! :-)

Anyway, excellent part. it is nice to see them moving forward

Kathy
www.chili-everyway.com

Interesting that this line was the one I focused on, too. You must have touched something universal, Rac.

Excellent part. I'm glad to see Clark healing. He'll probably always have PTSD, right? The nightmares are a symptom.

Thanks for the comments, everyone. I'm glad you enjoyed this section--especially Clark's epiphany. "Don't let the perfect become the enemy of the good," is a fairly common phrase in Washington, whether in the military, the bureaucracy, or the legislature. I also found it a good first rule of crisis management. Sometimes, you can't afford the time or resources it takes to get to a perfect solution. Sometimes perfect isn't possible. You have to know when 'good' is 'good enough.' It's a tough lesson for perfectionists, but an important one, in my opinion.

The line about perfection struck me too. But also Clark's dream about Nor.

It reminds me of Ingmar Bergman's last great movie, Fanny and Alexander. Loosely based on Bergman's own childhood, it focuses on a boy who gets a horrible stepfather, a sadistic bishop:



After subjecting the boy to psychological torture, the bishop meets with a gruesome death, as he is accidentally burned to death in his own bed. The boy may or may not have something to do with it (I don't remember). Afterwards, everyone in the large extended family is happy, including Fanny and Alexander's vibrant young mother, who takes to widowhood and new motherhood extremely well. The family gets together in a splendid Christmas party (or was it a midsummer party?) and everyone is happy, because everything is perfect.

But then we see Alexander walking down a hall in the opulent villa where he lives, and suddely he trips. Someone has tripped him up. He turns around, and behind him is the bishop, looking every bit as alive as he ever was. Is it the bishop's ghost, or is Alexander hallucinating?

The bishop speaks to Alexander. "Don't think you will ever be rid of me", he says. And that, I believe, is the movie's message. Perfection isn't possible, although we can certainly have a good time, and we must live with our ghosts.

I think that is what this chapter of your fic is also telling us, Rac.

Ann

Well, yay, for snowmageddon. It's good to see these parts. I, too, focused on the perfect the enemy of good line because that's so often true. I did think Clark overreacted to his son's tantrum, but he's not very experienced as a father yet. Kids are just kids and never want to quit having the fun they are having at that moment.
Looks like you will have more opportunity to write since the last storm just left California yesterday and is on your way.
Over a decade ago I lived in D.C. during a series of severe snow storms. Actually it was kind of fun because there was no work and I had access to the shops in the underground in Crystal City. Of course everything wasn't open because the supplies and shop keepers couldn't get in either.
Have fun!

Artemis

Sorry to add something off-topic, but Artemis' comment brought back the first winter I lived in DC. Major snowstorm, everything closed but I missed the announcements, so I went in to work. The guard told me the building was closed and I turned around to go home, but as I was leaving my boss showed up on the steps and said, "Glad you came in today! We have a lot of work to do." So no snow holiday for me!

Now I live in Georgia, so there's no snow today (cold though) and the kids will have to go to school on the holiday Monday to make up for the flood days they missed last September.

Now, back to our original topic of discussion . . . when can you post the next chapter?

Hilarious!



So, this going to be a daily occurrence?

Michael

Thanks for your comments, everyone.

Ann, I agree, that part of the message here is that even if you build a good life for yourself, it's hard, if not impossible, to escape your ghosts. Clark is slowly figuring that out.

Artemis, Cookiesmom, thanks for your comments. The blizzard has been interesting, but I would really like to get back to work at some point. Although that means much less time to write.

Michael, I'm glad you liked this part, especially Lois's snarky comments.

I plan to be out of town this weekend and since I've done so much writing because of Snowmaggedon and Son of Snowmaggedon, I'll be posting more now. Thanks again for reading and commenting.

Regards,

Rac