My mother was an English teacher. After she retired, she wanted to remain intellectually active. Through some friends of mine, but through no effort of mine, she got involved in a project to proofread a text book they were writing. I learned about this well after she got into the process, when she proudly proclaimed that she had been engaged to help them with their book. When the book (which I believe was entitled "First Steps: Grammar and Guided Composition for Basic Writing Students") was published, she was delighted to read the acknowledgements, in which one of my friends had expressed his appreciation for her participation. He noted that she "sees through shadows." My immediate interpretation was that he was acknowledging her for seeing past the obvious, for glimpsing the importance of the little things that sometimes are hidden beneath the shadows of words. Later, it occurred to me that his words may not have meant that at all. Because she suffered with cataracts, she had to work very hard to read; it was a laborious process, but one she insisted on doing on her own. Perhaps my friend was showing his appreciation, with his comment, for the extra effort she had to spend to proofread the manuscript. Maybe it wasn't her ability to uncover the meaning buried beneath a phrase that he was acknowledging but, rather, her tenacity to plow through a task even though she was dealing with an oppressive obstacle.
Unfortunately, I have lost touch with my friends, so I can't ask them. My mother is long since dead, so I can't ask her. I do not have a copy of the book and cannot find one, so I can't reread the acknowledgement and try to fathom the intent from the context. I have to see through the shadows of time to find the meaning. That is what I will try to do here. I hope you will join me.
