God is the Bigger Elvis

In the note below, it says he was ill (which they both knew then), and died soon after. Heartrending.

I like the way that although (I think) they are not allowed to talk at dinner, they nevertheless have lovely music to listen to.

It's interesting you talking about Dolores living life in the fast lane and getting exhausted and needing to slow down; I know the elder sister of the nun who has her hair cut halfway through the documentary, in her acceptance into the convent ceremony. I had heard of her high intelligence and capability from when she was young, and her voyage through Oxford into politics (she dated a young man who later became a British Prime Minister), then into high-level corporate strategy in the US, where she became embroiled in drink and drugs (which she alludes to). I was told of the documentary, and it is fascinating to see her here being candid about her next life (she has been at the convent 10 years now). A very different life...

this was a great share indigoblue. A lot of interesting surprises! Although it took me right back to wondering what, exactly, the real Maria or the fictional one was doing in a convent in the first place. An odd place for someone longing for adventure, as reverendcaptain reminds us. I know what she said in her memoir and I tried to write about it in one of my stories, but I never really felt that it rang true. Maybe because I don't have the "right" faith.

Agree re: the uncle. Also interesting: I just reread the parts of her memoir where she describes her abrupt return to religion after hearing a priest preach in a church where she'd gone to hear the music. (I tried to use this idea in a recent story). Here's something I found online, I forget where:

She never had money to pay for concernt tickets, but she was hungry for music and in Vienna there was always music. On a Sunday morning she could just look in a newspaper and find that a mass by Mozart would be played in St. Stephen’s Cathedral at 8 o’clock and a mass by Hayden in the Franciscan Church at 9 a.m.; then at 10:30 she would be running to be among the first in the Imperial Chapel at the Palace because the Vienna Philharmonic would play, the Vienna Boy’s Choir would sing, and the bishop would celebrate the mass. The mass was uninteresting to her, but the combination of the choir boys and the philharmonic was the great weekly highlight which she almost never missed. So passed the four years in Vienna.
On Palm Sunday of her graduating year she was aimlessly sauntering through the inner part of Vienna during the afternoon when she saw the people converge from all sides on the big Jesuit church. Ah, Palm Sunday. It can only mean the St. Matthew Passion by Bach. So she joined the group and was taken in with the stream of people into the very middle of the church. It was so densely packed that it was impossible to even faint. But there was no music.
It happened to be the last sermon in a series of Lenten messages by the very famous Jesuit preacher, Father Kronseder. He talked about the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Chris. Now she had heard from her uncle that all of these Bible stories were inventions and old legends, and that there wasn’t a word of truth in them. But the way this man talked just swept her off her feet. She was completely overwhelmed by it, and she worked her way through the crowd to the pulpit. As he came down the stairs she grabbed him by the elbow and said loudly and distinctly, “Do you believe all this?”
With this started a new life for Maria. Once again God was back in her life.

This reminds me of a book I am reading about the places in the world with the highest concentrations of people over 100 years old. The author is trying to decipher habits that are consistent throughout the varied places. He came up with: having a clear purpose, moving/exercising naturally (such as gardening), eating simple nutritious meals, limiting stress, having supportive people around you, and feeling that you belong, among other things. I would think that a convent would provide all of these. I can see how people there would age without the illness and stress that plague so many people in this world. It is probably a very peaceful life.