As part of bringing this year to a close, I wanted to read all the true things, one after another. To make it easier, I printed them. 15 pages worth. These truths are of all different weights and measures. I began to visualize a chart with all the truths running down the left-hand side and different categories running across the top–categories like travel-related, being in the moment, writing-related… But just for fun–sometimes I can be fun–here are some whimsical picks from the past 361 days, kind of a Dr. Seuss approach : )
Small truth: ZipLoc-bag user (226)
Large truth: I believe in myself (141)
Truth I changed: I don’t like yoga but I want to… (202)
Truth I tried but failed to change: So not a morning person (21)
Truth I wish I would change: I wish I knew lines I loved by heart (144)
Truth I changed but may change back: I’ve been dividing myself, but perhaps it would be better to add my selves together (70)
Truth discovered: What this year did was make me more comfortable with the uncomfortable (361)
Truth acknowledged: I wasn’t ready for 2015 to begin (55)
Truth I’m not proud of: Money motivates me (71)
Surface truth: I don’t dust very often (177)
Deep truth: I’m starting to understand how I got to this moment (265)
Sad truth: I just want to grab some food and get on with it (210)
Funny truth: I talk loudly on the phone–only on the phone (148)
Contradictory truth: I like motion, but I like stillness just as much (215)
Pitiful truth: I’m obsessed with the Kennedy’s (236)
Animal truth: Foxes are my kind of animal (335)
Obvious truth: Truth is what I’m after (152)
Metaphorical truth: Once I get on a train, I have a hard time getting off (82)
Literal truth: I felt the earth move–literally (111)
Moment of truth: As this day takes shape within the last week and the week and the month to come, I realize how behind I am, but I’m just going to focus on this good day (131)
Truth of detail: I’m a two-towel person (151)
Truth of a particular day: Too much sitting, not enough moving (104)
Truth of preference: Prunes, I like (281)
Truth of opinion: I believe we should open our doors to Syrian refugees (311)
Truth about truth: I’m not in the mood to write one true thing (123)
Other truth: I’ll just be going about my business and hear the water and think, here it comes… (126)
Least favorite truth: I requested a single room when I went to college (75)
Some of my favorite truths: I was a child in the 60’s, and I still think hippies are cool (12), Here’s the kind of toddler I was: I climbed over the side of my crib in the dark and let go (57), I’m a believer in signs, especially from the universe (58), When I have a lot of stuff going on, I pick up speed as I go–spinning like a top with the tiny point the only connection to the present moment (129) And the thing is, I LOVE being self-sufficient (143), During the summer of ’69–the summer of the moon walk, Hurricane Camille, Woodstock, Chappaquiddick, and Charles Manson–I first became conscious I had a body (181), Seeing the wash hanging on a clothesline makes me feel good (186), I’m hanging on by a thread (222), I’m a calendar girl (235), Going with nice over the truth day after day, year after year, might have sent my ship in the wrong direction (289), My new black ankle boots are me (291), I was once a girl with a ukulele (294).
I’m curious–did anyone ever go to the 365 true things page to see what one truth I had pulled out of a post? I would also love to hear if any truths stand out for anyone…or if anyone remembers a specific one for any reason… or if anyone has a favorite? Or how your Saturday is going?
~
Cynthia, I have looked forward to each day’s post and feel privileged that you have shared these with us, your readers. I think the way you have sorted and combined topics above gives them weight. I am going to miss reading a new truth a day. Congratulations ! You reached your goal, and I’m betting that you have discovered more about yourself than you ever expected.
Dorothy, thanks for your kind words here and for your support throughout the year. I am happy to be nearing the end, but I will miss the steady conversation. Happy New Year to you!
What a terrific and valuable summation! Love this. You’re making this countdown to the end so meaningful.
Thanks, Anne. I did want the last few posts to take the entire project into consideration and not just be another post in the series. Endings are so important, aren’t they?
At your prompting, I’ve just visited the 365 page! Would distillation be the right word to choose? (I had to go and check in my Oxford, where the word ‘essence’ is used to explain it, so perhaps that’s a better choice!) Certainly your project has been brave, courageous and very helpful to those of us who are readers of your journey. I have enjoyed the posts that reach back to childhood in the 60s. They have certainly jogged some memories! I also found the Nobody post very relevant – a ‘been there, done that’ moment. It prompted a lot of heart searching, as many of your posts have done. The fun things: I’m a calendar girl too, I also love stationary and I visited Provincetown in 1989 and loved it. How’s my Saturday going? Well, on this side of the planet, it’s Sunday lunchtime, but Saturday was very peaceful and quiet – a treasure of a day.
Thank you so so much, Ann, for playing along. And for showing yourself : ) When I started writing these posts, immediately I saw that it wouldn’t necessarily be clear from each post what the one true thing was for that day. Not that it was important, except that that’s how I thought of the project–one true thing, each day, for 365 days. So I just wondered if anyone ever read a post and wondered what I’d chosen. I love essence–thank you for that. And I love the childhood posts too… And that “nobody” post–that was a moment. I used to love stationery too–in fact I still have a whole basket I can’t part with but I hardly ever use it these days. Where are you from? How did you find Catching Days?
I found Catching Days via the ’12 Keys to Stronger Writing/Annie Dillard’ post via a mention somewhere I can’t recall now! At the time I was a Uni student studying towards a BA from which I thankfully graduated last year. So the link may have been connected with creative non-fiction which was one of my units. I live in Queensland, Australia at the moment but still consider Adelaide my Australian “home” as I’m originally from the UK!
So I know someone in Australia–a place I’ve always wanted to visit. Very cool. And huge congrats on graduating!
EDIT TO POST: When I glanced over this post just now, I see that with “least favorite truth,” I confused the one true thing with the post. #75 was my least favorite post but not my least favorite truth. I have no idea what that would be.
I so resonate with some, as in “oh someone else feels that way too,” and not at all with others. In other words, it’s as if we had a long conversation the way friends do, smart literary friends, and found out about each other. I will read your entire year again, entry after entry, to take it in as a whole. And I reiterate, if you didn’t hear it before, that you are one heck of a photographer. The images alone make for a gorgeous album. Did you ever get to read dovegreyscribbles, that reading and writing blog out of England? She and Louise DaSalvo are the only other blogs beside you that I regularly read.
Kirie, I can just see us sitting at a table with coffee or wine… and wow, thank you for even thinking of reading all the posts as a whole. I wish I could get them bound into a journal of sorts. I may look into that. And thanks for mentioning the photos. About three-quarters of the way through, I wished I had only used my photos, rather than pulling some of those silly ones from the internet. Anyway, I read dovegreyscribbles years ago and checked her out again recently. I will check out Louise DaSalvo too. Thank you thank you for all your support this year xo
Great read for a new reader…Cynthia just loved it..
Thank you, w!