Thread: The Microscope

The Microscope
by Lynn Ellen Wolf

I remember when I was around nine years old, I was convinced that I wanted to be a doctor when I grew up. For Christmas that year, I was overwhelmed to find a microscope set under the tree. I was so proud of owning it, then I lost it. Or broke it. I really don't remember that part. Anyway, that microscope hung on in my mind like little else in my childhood memories. I have since decided that I really don't want to be a doctor, but the principle of the microscope has stayed with me into my current endeavor. I'm a writer. I'm inherently curious about myself and the world around me. I want to know how things work, how people feel, how animals play and how the light at sunset gently kisses the edges of the leaves on the tree in my backyard. I find myself analyzing, disassembling, reverse engineering everything in my world. Then I get that "Aha!" moment where understanding turns on like a lightbulb and I know just the right words with which to translate the vision, the function, the emotion, onto a page. This is the way a single snowflake crystal can bring a tear to my eye. I see it under the microscope of this writer's mind, and its beauty, which defiantly dodges description, becomes an inspiration that gives meaning to an otherwise cold world.

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Also at Chuck's Tips

Beautiful.

how the light at sunset gently kisses the edges of the leaves on the tree in my backyard

great line