I got to thinking this week about tiny things that happen occasionally, that are fleeting, but cause me to experience a feeling of yes.
I don’t mean just “simple moments,” but those almost microscopic twinges of sensation. Admittedly, positive sensations.
So, I decided to keep a list this week in my pocket notebook, for anytime such a thing occurred, or a memory struck me of such a thing from the past.
—The bounce-back when I press the push button on a ballpoint pen.
—The feeling when an unopened bag of chips, pinched from either side, unseals smoothly, un-puckering left and right from the middle of the lip.
—The sound of rain on a tent while I fall asleep.
—Someone bringing me a coffee on a whim, because they thought I might like one.
—The clarinet glissade that opens George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.”
—An unlikely string of green lights, only green lights, on a drive that takes more than five minutes from one place to the next.
—The first time I tasted a ripe fig.
—The moment in a novel, usually around the middle, when I pause to realize it’s excellent and I’m in good hands.
—Watching someone who’s so practiced, so good at something, they do it fluidly, with no apparent friction.
—The second after my stomach drops on a roller coaster.
—Finding out that Lana Del Ray married a swamp boat operator.
—A postcard from a friend. (Thanks, G.)
—Not very often, for me, probably about twice a year, but: that first bite of a rare steak au poivre.
—Most questions posed by children under the age of six.
—The ending of Usual Suspects.
—The ending of Jane Austen’s Persuasion.
—A sensation of glide.
(If you’re inclined, drop your own in the comments.)
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What the what
“Meditations in an Emergency” is a weekly essay from writer Rosecrans Baldwin about something beautiful. Paying subscribers receive a Sunday supplement with three-plus things to love, plus the monthly “Humans Being Humans” ballyhoo.
Rosecrans is the bestselling author of Everything Now, winner of the California Book Award. Other books include The Last Kid Left and Paris, I Love You but You’re Bringing Me Down. His debut novel, You Lost Me There, was a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice. For magazine articles, bio, contact info, blah blah blah, try rosecransbaldwin.com.
Making a group of people you just met laugh, with a genuinely funny quip or joke.
The moment when cracking open a crab leg and getting a full bite of meat as it separates from the shell.