Know that I have Lived

This memoir is about a curious little girl that scoops up treasure, like a marble on a sidewalk and a toddler drowning in a stream. As one of six kids in her family, exciting events are frequently happening whether in sports, the arts or academics. As a schoolgirl, Jill rebuffs amorous advances, plays the Virgin Mary in a nativity play which surprisingly includes the devil, and wins a bicycle that eventually leads to adventure and travel abroad. As a teen babysitter, she unexpectedly takes care of a shooting victim, and later comes to terms with the attraction of money. She determines life is not for the weak or the artistic, but optimistically deals with setbacks while feeling the fear and living anyway. Despite a great education and a masters degree, a career in broadcasting does not manifest itself and alternatives are sought with varying levels of success.
Know That I Have Lived contains universal themes of curiosity, naiveté and self-discovery. The main character has a unique world view, such as treasuring hand-me-downs and valuing self-sufficiency. Ultimately, Jill’s resourcefulness, work ethic and self-reliance are her downfall, as readers see in the final chapter when she determines she has nowhere left to go but down to the ultimate escape territory of the Florida Keys.

The story travels from the Midwest to the Northeast to Florida, as the character moves with her family according to a corporation’s needs and her own need to explore beyond America’s borders. Settings are richly conveyed as most evident in the chapter, “Lemme Hole’ Your Peen-zel,” in which Jill as a seventh-grader cannot understand the English spoken in her new hometown. At this point, resourcefulness and self-sufficiency are a means of survival -- as further shown in “I’ve Been Shot,” where the teen displays the personal toll of handling life’s surprises.

Meanwhile, her racing bike takes her to places many only dream about. Seeing the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France twice in person while traveling by bike are just a couple of her 20 trips to Europe in 20 years. When Jill is befriended in 1991 by a professional cycling team from Spain, she is in her own version of heaven, and tells the Spanish TV crew which interviews her, "I can die now."

Readers who enjoyed Robert Fulghum’s bestseller, All I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten and It was on Fire When I Lay Down on It, will enjoy the memoir Know that I have Lived. Meaning in life, told with humor and compassion, has universal appeal and that is Jill Zima Borski’s aim: to delight readers everywhere.

Too often, when children grow up and become mature enough to want to know a relative well, to learn about the relative’s hopes and dreams, pursuits, successes and failures, it is too late. The parent or grandparent or mentor cannot share their memories any longer. Realizing this possibility, my book shares my most vivid recollections with my children, friends and readers.

When my children are mature enough to appreciate dear old mom, when they are old enough to have wanted to know me better or about how my life was as a child, teen or young woman, when they want to know more about me than just my role as their mother or this elderly person whom they love, I want them to know that I have lived.