I’m a sucker for beautifully written, meaningful works, and this one by Jennifer Mattern on how mothers attending to the little moments in life somehow connects us to the rest of the world tops the week, or maybe even the month.
Sophie and I went to the library.
Seven words.
Sophie and I went to the library.
Seven ordinary words, marking the passing of a benign, seemingly mundane event. Almost no reason to mention it. A child. A mother. A library. So what?
After all, there are bigger events. There is a world at large, and my, it’s large. Tanking economy. Greedy banks. Bloody wars. Power struggles. Politics and pundits, media glee.
We are aware of the blazing ring of fire circling us. In the middle of it, we change diapers. We wipe little bottoms. We shop in bulk. We return overdue books at the library. We go to work. We try to find work. We love and we lose our spouses, our children, our way. We cry in the shower. None of this gets much press.
And yet.
*****
I think most of you who come here, come here because you have a hunch there is meaning in the small events. Not all of you are sure of this, but most of you—like me—hope it’s true. That the library trips and grocery errands and baths and Vicks Vapo-Rub all matter, somehow. That they matter more than the fire raging all around us, burning nothing but itself.
Read the rest here.
between worlds 