Fixing the Salad

by Noelle Sterne

Fixing the salad for any day's dinner, turning from counter to sink, my Time stopped for a moment. Something, in bare recognition, broke through my day-babbling thoughts, something long hidden but there, like old baby shoes in the back of a drawer. It spoke as I heard, a strong subtle thread still connected from then to right now. Who would have thought I'd be here, in this time and this place and this life — who would have known or predicted or seen that I'd reach here and now in this way? And in this same moment, Time shattered; I saw in this moment the sharp, cutting edges we make of our lives, the damage we breed by our lauding and cursing, the illness we spread by our grading of status or mud. Clearer than glass, I saw through this time and this life: slicing tomatoes or signing laws, wrapping garbage or writing books, the threads are all different; the moment is one and the whole.

6S

Noelle Sterne is a writer, editor, writing coach and consultant. Stemming from her long consulting practice with doctoral candidates, she is currently completing a psychological-spiritual handbook to help doctoral candidates finish their dissertations (finally). She is the author of "First You Find Your Desk: Start Writing and Keep Writing with Less Agony and More Joy."