Esse quam videri

“I admire your willingness to share such intimate moments. It is inspiring.” So said a friend about a story I wrote in The Auspices, a note I send monthly to readers. I thought about how the word “inspiring” relates to breathing. Then I thought about North Carolina’s motto: esse quam videri. To be rather than to seem. How rare that is now. How essential.

As I wrote those words, a yellow-green spider spun down onto my writing arm from an oak under which I’m sitting, and an ant crawled onto my writing pad.

A story can help us breathe. Here we all are, breathing together.