I’m reading “Nature” which is one of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essays, originally published anonymously. They talked funny back in the 1800s so I don’t understand it all (despite having studied him at length during my undergrad years as an English Lit major), but every once in a while I get sound bites that stick. They can take over my thoughts for an entire day.

Towards the end of the essay, he’s writing about how humanity constantly tries to speed things up (better, quicker, faster, smarter)  though nature doesn’t buy in.  It just is. He says man’s life is “…seventy salads long, grow they swift or grow they slow.”

This was the sound bite that started to take over. I started thinking, what if at the end of your life you lined up all the foods that went into your body while here on earth? Would each era be easily identifiable?

I’m thinking of my high school years right now where I think I drank 800 grape juices, ate 1,000 chocolate chip cookies, and gobble down 500 stuffed burritos from Roger’s Frosty made in the deep fryer after closing hours. My current line would be filled with lots of fresh veggies, fruits, nuts, and pounds of peanut butter and raw honey with the occasional red wine/chocolate binge. Oh, and TONS of S’more bars and chewy chocolate chip Medifast bars because I love those. (But definitely no deep fried burritos!)

What does your line look like? Would you be embarrassed for other people to see it or would it make you proud?

I’m pretty sure Ralph Waldo didn’t think I’d take this reference off in this tangent, but hey. He did tell American authors to be original in their thoughts and find their own voices after all.

And now I’m wondering what Ralph’s line would have looked like…