One True Sentence

Sometimes when I was started on a new story and I could not get going, I would sit in front of the fire and squeeze the peel of the little oranges into the edge of the flame and watch the sputter of blue that they made. I would stand and look out over the roofs of Paris and think, "Do not worry. You have always written before and you will write now. All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence you know." So finally I would write one true sentence, and then go on from there. It was easy then because there was always one true sentence that I knew or had seen or had heard someone say. If I started to write elaborately, or like someone introducing or presenting something, I found that I could cut the scrollwork or ornament out and throw it away and start with the first true simple declarative sentence I had written.
- Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast

Since a teenager, I always loved to write. I loved doing many other things, also, (too often, perhaps, the doing of nothing...), but I relish the pure joy of creating with text.

Many years have passed since I was a teen. I am busy in ways I never imagined then.

Life is so busy.
Aw-full, dread-full, delight-full.
It's overflowing.

I have been working on one true sentence. I want to capture the thing I feel every morning when I wake up.

It is Thanksgiving! I wake up surrounded by beauty and love, a bounty of blessings. This is the life I want, have wanted since I began speculating about my future.

But with that recognition of bounty, comes great worry. The danger they face, from passing physical harm, the consequences of their own bad choices. Decades ago, I had an amazing intro to philosophy class at BYU, taught by Chauncey Riddle. It was a pleasure to listen to him talk about how we know things, why we do things. The same year I had his class, I caught a re-broadcast of his talk on fear, given as a BYU Devotional in July of 1986.

Hmm. I have been thinking often of my old BYU professors. Funny what having a daughter in college does.

But his talk on fear has informed my adult life. He talked of the two kinds of fear; fear that comes from ignorance (where we fear what is not dangerous because we do not understand it), and fear of consequence (which can motivate us to avoid danger or aggressively seek action). Go read it when you have time, it is very thought-provoking.

I am thinking of his talk today because of the swirl of emotions I feel whenever I ponder how fortunate I am.

I awake the same every day; grateful, and afraid.

Hope everyone has a a wonderful thanksgiving day, full of cheer as well as sober reflection.