Lessons From Hemmingway

"As I ate the oysters with their strong taste of the sea and their faint metallic taste that the cold white wine washed away, leaving only the sea taste and the succulent texture, and as I drank their cold liquid from each shell and washed it down with the crisp taste of the wine, I lost the empty feeling and began to be happy and to make plans." 

In Ernest Hemmingway's, 'A Moveable Feast', there are lessons that he shares through his writings of his experiences as a young man living in Paris. The book is one of his smaller sized works and really is more of a compilation and recollection of those young and influential years.  He acknowledges how his experiences in Paris, meetings with people, the exchanges of conversation, or moments shared over a meal, affected him, strengthened him in his thoughts about self, and his own pursuit of writing.  It was published in 1964, nearly 3 years following his death.  

There are many poignant excerpts I could have used for this post, but the above piece referring to oysters and their taste of the sea, somehow resonated with me.  I look at his thoughts of Paris, as what he knows built in him the qualities that he strived for, as husband, companion, friend, and writer, as opening up to learning through his own experiences, acknowledgement of moments he failed, or that failed him,  and that there is sometimes an opportunity for an individual to feel an emptiness.  

Some people have events shoved at them that carves away at their desire to hope, to feel happiness, even in the midst of the storm.  Adversity has a power like that....to try and defeat you...and your human spirit.  For others, there is a medical imbalance that can be just as heavy a contender to carve away hope, until diagnosis steps in and they can gain help in the form of medication and human support.  In 'A Moveable Feast', Hemmingway shared his thoughts of how life itself can create moments of self doubt, and hints of loneliness.  He did not, however, leave writings to reflect or parallel his current fight at that time, with sadness and emptiness.  But, maybe that is what makes this work so more the treasure.  We all know how his time on this earth ended...tragically...permanently.  The lesson in reading his works, is more so the clever brilliance of how pen meets paper.  I have always admired him, and separated how he left this earth with what his pen shared on paper and with us.