Paying Attention

All day, I've had the image of a stretch of road stuck in my head. I couldn't tell you exactly where you'd find that stretch, but it's somewhere on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. It might be Crisfield, a tiny town we used to pass through on our summer trips to Chincoteague. Really, the image goes beyond just remembering what it looks like; I can smell it too. The smell is fresh, and the road is lined with trees, mostly pines. It's near the bay and the ocean, so those scents are mixed in with the trees. I'm not sure why it's sticking with me, but I know why I remember it so well. Sometimes a place strikes me as so pleasant that I store away the memory to pull up when I need or want it. Today it came without my having summoned it.

Because I've always loved the ocean -- and haven't always lived near it -- I used to stare out at the crashing waves and the sky, and then close my eyes and try to picture what I had seen. I would do this over and over until I had it just right. When I needed to go to my "happy place", I'd ignore everything around me and evoke that image. It wasn't always the same one. I did this on many different beaches, by a few different oceans. I still do it now, if the mood strikes me. And it isn't always about scenery. When I am with my family and we are all happy together, I savor and save those moments too. I'm sure I'm not the only person who does this, but I would say it's one of the smarter things I thought to do from an early age.

One of my favorite assignments to give students is to have them write about an object they see all the time, describing it for someone who's never seen it. Often they are surprised by the details they've missed, and I've had a similar sensation taking walks with children -- mine, when they were young, and now my granddaughters. Small children are fascinated by everything, so they notice what we adults might not. And their perspective is literally very different from ours because they're closer to the ground. There really is a big difference between looking at something and paying attention.