I am starting a post called, “Things to Love.” Every two weeks you will find pieces about: writers who will capture your imagination; recipes to stimulate your appetite; landscapes and places to travel to; and objects near and dear to my heart.
Life is precious. Take every breath with purpose and be present. The best way is to treasure the things we love and keep them close, like a lucky charm in your pocket. You never know when you will need one.
Here is quote from Vladimir Nabokov, one of my newest , favorite writers:
"I see again my schoolroom in Vyra, the blue roses of the wallpaper, the open window. Its reflection fills the oval mirror above the leathern couch where my uncle sits, gloating over a tattered book. A sense of security, of well-being, of summer warmth pervades my memory. That robust reality makes a ghost of the present. The mirror brims with brightness, a bumblebee has entered the room and bumps against the ceiling. Everything is as it should be, nothing will ever change, nobody will ever die."
I don’t know why it took me so long to read him. The quote is from, “Speak, Memory. An Autobiography Revisited. Everyman's Library, Alfred A. Knopf, 1999. I keep it by my bedside and read one of the short chapters every night before I go to bed. It’s like eating chocolate or sipping bourbon. Deliciously provocative and dangerous.
By the way, his thing to love was butterflies.