It took me a long time to come up with a title for this new blog of mine.
I guess couldn't think of something that defined me more as an individual than worms. Does that tell you something?
So why worms you ask? Well, the simple answer could be that I am a mother of two, soon to be three, boys. But actually, they are more squeamish than I am when it comes to worms (they get that from their dad I'm afraid).
I'm sure this blog will mostly reflect my life in the role of mother, wife, and homemaker, as I record some of the small yet significant day-to-day happenings that I wouldn't otherwise remember, but I want it to be more. I want it to be a journey of self discovery, as well as a true depiction of who I really am... and if you want to know what that has to do with worms, read on.
To be honest, it was my answer to one of those silly get-to-know-you questions that people ask, "If you were to write a book, what would it be called?" The full title would have been "What do Worms Smell Like: and other things we take for granted."
It actually comes from a few different sources. First of all, as a younger person I was enthralled with the book "My Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George. I loved the idea of living in the forest in a secret hideout all alone except for the animals you had befriended, living off the land by your own resourcefulness... but that has nothing to do with worms. It actually has to do with one small portion of the book where the main character is lounging in the grass one evening and hears a sound next to his head that turns out to be an earthworm. He makes the observation to the effect that it was nice to know that even something as insignificant as an earthworm had a voice in the world.
I may feel insignificant at times, but I'd like to know that perhaps I was heard, perhaps I left a mark on the world. I want this blog to be a place where I can share my thoughts and ideas, my plans, my projects, and my accomplishments, even if they are not particularly noteworthy.
The second thing that brought me to this was another book I read in high school. It was Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451." I didn't especially like the book because of how hopeless and depressed it made me feel as I read about a futuristic world on the brink of apocalypse where the people had lost all sense of humanity. There was one character in the story though, who was a bright ray of hope. She shook the world of the main character when she did something as simple as smell a handful of Autumn leaves --which was something people in that world took no notice of. It was a simple pleasure, and for him, it was a totally foreign idea.
What does it have to do with worms? Well, it's a stretch, but I think taking notice of the little things (i.e. autumn leaves, worms, etc.), being curious about the world around you is a way of not taking things for granted. I don't ever want to miss out on the simple pleasures of life. I don't want to take the small things for granted; otherwise, I feel I would lose some of my own humanity. I hope to use this blog to remind myself and others to be more aware of the little things that make up real life and document some of the simple pleasures I enjoy.
The third thing I thought of when I came up with my blog title was an article called "Thinking on Earthworms," by David Quammen. In his essay, he discourses upon a little-known fascination of Charles Darwin --that of earthworms. Although Darwin was more famous for his book Origin of the Species, he also wrote a book called, "The formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms." The book was a result of a lifetime of research done by Darwin on the subject, and one of the facts Quammen used to elucidate his point was that Darwin was a free thinker. Darwin actually made some interesting discoveries about the importance of earthworms to the ecosystem, concluding, in essence, that the earth would be in big trouble without the good that earthworms do through the decomposition of refuse and aeration of the soil, among other things. Of course, I'm greatly simplifying things, but going back to the point of David Quammen's essay, it takes people who are free thinkers, to make a difference for good in the world --like the earthworms --as opposed to people who are caught up in what he calls the "noosphere" or "the homogenization of minds" that occurs when we are told what to think about and care about by the media: people who are overly concerned with keeping up with the rest of the world in popular culture and social norms and such.
I want to be a free thinker, an individual, and I want to do some good in the world. This will be a repository for some of my more profound, although at times random, thoughts and beliefs that may or may not make a difference in the life of someone else.
So that is the reason behind the reference to worms in the name of my blog. Sorry it took so long to explain.
By the way, the answer is Dirt.
