With my son in school, I read more. Oh, bliss, I read more!

For the last few days, I’ve been reading Sue Grafton’s W is for Wasted. I love Sue Grafton, and while reading this book, I came across a fantastic quote that I can’t for the life of me find again. I’ve searched. I’ve even Googled. I’ve done my utmost to find the passage once more, but I can’t, so I’ll have to paraphrase.

Basically, she says that the Meaning of Life is the goopy, sticky stuff that holds together those random things in our lives and makes it into a whole. We all choose to apply different meanings, I think, and if we look at the unsaid assumptions that make up our story, we know what our glue–our meaning–is.

Photo by: Simon A. Eugster

Every story needs glue. If we take the same basic plot kernels, we can turn them into any kind of story we like. A romance, a mystery, a thriller, a ghost story… We are either the hero or the victim. It all depends on how we connect the dots.

We all look at the events of our lives, the people we’ve cared for, and string them together in a particular way in order to make a narrative. If we look at our story, and look at those unsaid assumptions that make that story make sense, we find the meaning of life… or at the very least, the meaning of our life as we see it.

So what glues together the pieces of your life into a whole? What holds it all together and makes it make sense?

A search for love, a knee-jerk reaction to protect our hearts, suspicion, anger, jealousy, hunger, fear, longing, curiosity, faith… Something glues together your tale, and it gives your life meaning. And when you identify the meaning in your life, is it worthwhile? Is it worth devoting your entire existence toward?

What’s your glue?