Survival often depends on a specific focus: a relationship, a belief, or a hope balanced on the edge of possibility. Or something more ephemeral: the way the sun passes through the hard, seemingly impenetrable glass of a window and warms the blanket, or how the wind, invisible but for its wake, is so loud one can hear it through the insulated walls of a house.
~ Elisabeth Tova Bailey
(The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating)
“Hope balanced on the edge of possibility” – I like that a lot.
It’s a very helpful idea to focus on when one is grieving a great loss. In the author’s case, it was her health.
My comments are going “poof” again, but I’ll assume they will return….
I do wonder what on earth is going on…
I like this quote very much Barbara – it sure gives you something to dwell upon. I like the image of the snail – I had no idea they moved out that much away from their shell. What a stretch their body does here! I thought you saw this snail on one of your nature walks and I was surprised to see it was not you that captured this image.
I love the way the snail is balancing on the edge of the stump, the edge of its possibility perhaps. None of the pictures of snails I’ve ever taken have been so detailed! It’s really stretching as it contemplates its next move. The author of the book spent many endless hours incapacitated, and spent the time contemplating a snail living in a flower pot next to her bed.
Yes, it just amazed me Barbara – very, very detailed macro photography and that’s fascinating about how the author was able to study this snail in its environment while confined to her bed.
I’ve never been too fond of snails, but I’m fascinated by this photo … and the quote is spot on. Grieving comes to all of us eventually, but Life demands that we continue pressing on. There’s something quite poetic about “hope balanced on the edge of possibility.”