As Harold continues his pilgrimage, I've gotten a lot more interested because of the many different people he has met along the way. They have given him either the motivation to continue this journey or even have opened his eyes as to why he is doing this pilgrimage in the first place. To continue on from where we left off, chapter 13 begins with Martina offering a helping hand by opening up her house to Harold after his fall.Martina insists he should stay with her and give up on this journey to Berwick because of the injury he's gotten from the lack of physical strength he has. Harold being hard headed, reminding me of myself sometimes, is being stubborn and decides to not fail Queenie by stopping this journey. Basically the motto he is going after is "never say never", following Justin Bieber's footsteps.  

Over the days he spent at Martina's household they begin to share a lot as well as bond as they confess to each other the personal secrets about one another. I found one quotation that was mentioned through their dialogue which was very interesting and yet so very true. "For a while there was only the silence that carried her words. It struck Harold afresh how life could change in an instant. You could be doing something so everyday-walking your partner's dog, putting on your shoes- and not knowing that everything you wanted you were about to lose" (Joyce, 144). Reading this, it sounds to me that he is specifically talking about how we don't tend to appreciate our loved ones enough, and that we could lose them in a matter of seconds. 

This is something I feel that everyone could connect with or at least understand. Connecting this to a novel we all are familiar with, The Namesake, it shares the same concept of losing a loved one. As Gogol isolates himself from his parents, especially his father, he regrets the lack of interaction he had with them after he found out that his father had passed away. He later shows process of conformity that he's going through by going out of his way to do the things that pleased his parents like taking off his shoes when he came inside, or even picking up their calls and visiting more. Personally I can connect to this as well within my own family. My dad works for the United Nations and so he is required to travel a lot. Whenever he comes to visit, my siblings and I usually get sick of the over affectionate care he shows us by calling us everyday about outer where abouts and trying to be in our personal lives. But as soon as its time for him to leave, we are the sadest human beings on earth, and start regretting the times we haven't spent with him when we could.

Overall, I feel that people will go extreme lengths to be with a loved one that may have been taken for granted.

To describe the beginning of this novel by only using one word, faith is the most suitable term that sums up the plot of this book. Throughout chapters 1-13, faith is essentially what keeps Harold Fry motivated to continue his journey to deliver his message to Queenie Hennessy. The little girl from the garage that he encounters on his way to the mailbox introduced him to the concept of faith. “ You have to believe. That's what I think. It’s not about medicine and all that stuff. You have to believe a person can get better. There's so much in the human mind we don't understand. But, you see, if you have faith you can do anything”(Joyce, 15). Harold saw this little girl to be the hope and change he was looking for, which he described, her as the "standing pool of light”(Joyce, 15). To Harold, what he learns about faith gives him the little hope he has for Queenie to survive her diagnosis of cancer. As long as he keeps walking to the hospital, he feels that she will miraculously be cured. Evidently, he believes this idea that the little girl tells him because of the way she connected Queenie to her aunt. Later on in chapter 3, Harold calls his wife using a pay phone to explain his where-abouts. At the end of the conversation he comes to the conclusion that he will be continuing this journey from what he argues is in the best interest for Queenie. "I was talking to a girl at the garage it should be in the idea. She saved her aunt from cancer because she believed. She showed me how to heat a burger as well. It even had gherkins"(Joyce 23). Now Harold has gained confidence and shows this through his certainty to carry on with this un-organized pilgrimage. Personally I feel that with faith, it can play a huge factor that can affect the way all of us think and react to certain situations. The only things that can stop motivating us from achieving a goal is by allowing obstacles to get the best of us. In chapter 5, we see how Harold is hesitant on moving forward when explains the minor setbacks he has with the things he needs to survive. "Harold felt a testing in his gut. It would be better not to speak about Napier. Instead Harold explained how he had set off with the letter for Queenie, and realized it wasn't enough. Before the landlord could point it out, he admitted he had no phone, walking boots, or map, and that he probably appeared ridiculous"(Joyce, 44). I can connect to this idea by relating it to a documentary I watched of my favourite football athlete Jamaal Charles. He was explaining his journey to make it into the big leagues but also explaining the struggle he came from, concerning him financially and his negative surroundings. Overall, If Jamaal's persistence and faith didn't drive him to make his interest into a career, he wouldn't be in the NFL now an praised for his accomplishments. Near the middle of the book, we will understand how strong Harold's faith is by seeing if he continues on his journey.