What’s it all about? What is the meaning, the purpose, or secret of it all? Like most, people my answer to that question is “Not a clue.”
Maybe, like Curley, in that old movie City Slickers, it’s “That one thing.” The one thing you do or that you spend all your time thinking and planning about. Maybe it’s hobby that you can’t give up. The gym you attend everyday, or the collection of bobble headed presidents you’ve been working on.
I remember that one day back in 9th grade. Our art teacher, Russ Norberg, had scheduled a potter to come in and demonstrate making a teapot. I recall watching him pull and shape the clay into a form and thinking That’s it! I have to do that! Since that day ceramics and pottery have dominated my thoughts.
Looking back over the last 45 years or so, I’ve done a lot of exciting things. I’ve taught art and English in high school and community college. I’ve raised a family or two. I’ve travelled, hunted, fished, rode boxcars, jumped out of airplanes, ... so many adventures. But it’s always come back to the clay. It’s under my fingernails, on my jeans, and in my heart and soul.
For me, it’s that one thing.