A Candid, Poignant Recall of Love, Passion, and Courage, Jane Hawking Shares Her Side in “Travelling to Infinity”

Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen is a touching and realistic tale of love, passion, and the will to live and keep living. Jane Hawking portrays life with her ex-husband in extreme honesty and with such recall that it leaves your body aching.

Before seeing The Theory of Everything, I knew very little of Stephen Hawking, including the fact that he had been married, twice. He married his nurse, Elaine Mason in 1995, later to divorce in 2006. But before Elaine, there was the tour de force Jane Wilde, who’s heart was captured by Stephen’s charm, wit, and brilliance in 1963.

Married for 26 years, Jane and Stephen built a life together in Cambridge, England. They have three children, Robert, Lucy, and Timothy, and as we know, Stephen is a highly acclaimed Professor of Physics at Cambridge University in England. But Traveling to Infinity brings us to a time before children, before wheelchairs, before professorship, before depression, and before marriage. She allows us to see from courtship to proposal, from marriage to family, from new homes to professorship, to heartache and separation. Jane describes in haunting detail the crushing tole that Motor Neuron Disease (more commonly known as ALS in the United States) not only took on her husband, but on their family.

Through a majority of the book I am writhing in pain. Jane works with tremendous strength and determination to keep her family from shattering into a million pieces. From having Stephen on one arm and Robert in the other, she would move with grace across campus to make sure that Stephen could fulfill his duties for his Fellowship at Gonville and Caius College. She cooked, cleaned, redecorated, shopped for and fed her loved ones. Often times penning her exhaustion and longing to complete her degree, Jane persevered against all odds. She knew Stephen had little time and she wanted to guarantee the best with what little time he had.

In many ways you could say that she sacrificed much of her life for Stephen, but as I read, I never got the slightest feeling of anger or regret. Even as Stephen had less and less mobility and used fewer and fewer words to communicate, she trudged through the disease and family life, despite often being overlooked for her enormous efforts. That was the toughest for me. Stephen and Jane had genuinely warm and caring friends, but there were also the individuals who did not feel for Jane and her difficult situation. They would remind her that some have it much worse and she should be thankful for what she has. Even Stephen came off as ungrateful at times, and that drove me mad.

But even though the book is riddled with tough moments and sometimes tragic events, Jane offers us smiles and laughter when she can. Her warmth shines through most in moments shared about her family. One moment I particularly enjoyed is when her and Stephen are traveling with newly-born Robert to Seattle. Jane quickly runs off for food, leaving Stephen holding Robert in his lap. She returns to a horrified look on Stephen’s face only to look down to see that Robert had indeed peed in his lap. Dropping the food, she quickly whisks the boy off his lap and to change him, only to worry about what to do with Stephen’s pants. Needless to say, he sat in soaked pants for the flight. This trip eventually led to a daunting fear of flying, but again offers a lighter side to her family life.

Jane’s spirit is awe-inspiring. Truly a remarkably kind and gentle woman, she uses Travelling to Infinity to share her journey. Never is there a hint of cruelty against Stephen or friends of the family, she just wants an opportunity to share her side and I am glad she did. Her passion for not only Stephen, but family, music, language, and travel never failed to shine through the prose. She was a dedicated wife, but she did all of this out of love, not obligation. Though their story is a remarkable one, with Stephen living well past his timelime, raising three children, and fighting Motor Neuron Disease with messy finesse, it is Jane’s story that will leave you breathless. The pain will wreak havoc on your body, but the love is what ultimately heals you.

They Have, and Will, Leave Their Mark (Four Unstoppable Women)

1. Alice Paul

This woman led the crusade through the early 1900s for women to get the right to vote. Her methods were considered uncouth, unladylike, and treasonous as she often picketed Woodrow Wilson during the first World War. People, like Carrie Chapman Catt, were not her number one supporters because they believed her reckless ways were never going to get that infamous 20th amendment passed. Paul picketed, protested, and was arrested and sentenced to Occoquan Workhouse several times where she started hunger strikes (a practice she learned in England) and was force fed raw eggs. I admire her passion. There wasn’t much Paul would not do to guarantee women the right to vote and for that all women today should be thankful for all she sacrificed.

2. Jane Wilde Hawking

I am currently reading Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen and must applaud Jane’s incredible strong will, yet tenderness in her caring for Stephen Hawking. Stephen was often times brash, commanding, and aloof to Jane’s sacrifices she made for her husband and family. She was fully dedicated to her husband and was willing to give up many things to guarantee that he had the most fulfilling life that one with ALS could have. She accompanied dinners, flew overseas, and helped him to school by offering up her arm as a crutch. She devoted a majority of her life to him and her love was unwavering, despite development of feelings for her choir master. She truly was Stephen’s rock and her determination and will is something all women should admire.

3. Michelle Obama

Not only is she one of the most fashionably dressed First Lady’s of the United States since Jackie Kennedy, she is a powerhouse. Like her husband, she has experience with community organizing and making things happen. Her crusades currently include spreading awareness of healthy eating, especially for children, to help combat the ever growing epidemic of obesity in this county. She is intelligent, eloquent, motivational, and a complete American icon, what more could we ask for?

4. Beyonce Knowles-Carter

Dear Beyonce, my name is Kelsey, and I consider you to be my idol in all things life. She sings, dances, and is the fiercest woman to ever grace this planet we call Earth. She wakes up flawless, has no problem belting out power chords about love, life, and relationships. She is also one of the strongest, most loving mother’s to ever grace our television screens. She is always glamorous and always seems to be enjoying life to the fullest extent. She is the definition of a strong women by continuing to defy odds in hip-hop world and becoming a reason for all women to belt out amazing songs to their heart’s content. I love her and hope that the world respects her as much as I do.