Let’s agree to not miss the small details, ok?
There will always be big themes and chapters of our lives, but maybe much of the beauty is found in the fleeting particulars.
If you, and I, do not slow down, purposefully observe, and document some of it, I am afraid we are in danger of unconsciously walking right over it.
- I hope I remember what it felt like to walk through my grandparent’s house.
- I hope I pay attention to how the sunlight feels on my next beach trip.
- And I hope I remember what the rose smelled like that I gave my daughters on Valentine’s Day this year.
Good-grief. What small details have we already missed?
Don’t blink.
But if I want to notice the lesser cataclysms of valley life, I have to maintain in my head a running description of the present. It’s not that I’m observant; it’s just that I talk too much. Otherwise, especially in a strange place, I’ll never know what’s happening. Like a blind man at the ball game, I need a radio.
-Annie Dillard, Pilgrim At Tinker Creek