While I’m reading, a sentence will grab me and force me to stop. I pay tribute to other authors by sharing their Damn Fine Sentences with you. Then I recount a memory the words bring up for me. It’s about how books connect with your life.
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“If the doctor was wrong and I’m not dying, it will be a major disappointment.”
Isabel Allende
Violeta
About to spring out of bed for my morning walk, I notice my breath is shallow. I can’t pull in enough oxygen. The effort grows more intense. Is this the shortness of breath that sends COVID sufferers to the ER? Is this what a female heart attack looks like? I might be dying. There’s a moment of panic. The Buddha said dying, like everything else, is a series of sensations. I should observe the sensations as they rise and fall.
Yes, I might be dying. Die consciously.
Wait a minute. I’ve got to write about this. The gaps between my breaths. The death rattle. The light. The soul floating on the ceiling. It will be my most brilliant essay. That Nobel Prize for Literature is mine, baby. But then, dammit, I don’t die.
###
“If the doctor was wrong and I’m not dying, it will be a major disappointment.”
Isabel Allende
Violeta
About to spring out of bed for my morning walk, I notice my breath is shallow. I can’t pull in enough oxygen. The effort grows more intense. Is this the shortness of breath that sends COVID sufferers to the ER? Is this what a female heart attack looks like? I might be dying. There’s a moment of panic. The Buddha said dying, like everything else, is a series of sensations. I should observe the sensations as they rise and fall.
Yes, I might be dying. Die consciously.
Wait a minute. I’ve got to write about this. The gaps between my breaths. The death rattle. The light. The soul floating on the ceiling. It will be my most brilliant essay. That Nobel Prize for Literature is mine, baby. But then, dammit, I don’t die.
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