Now We Are 100

My sister Therese, chronicler of the Stories of Elmford, has a phrase she likes to use: “Gifted with a magic oomph.” I have that phrase taped up under my office window.

I usually think of magic oomph as creativity + action, and when I sit down at my writing desk I wonder if I will have it that day. But there is no doubt that our dad, who turned 100 last week, has some pretty good oomph of his own. The oomph of long life.

He has gotten his oomph by (if I might presume to know) exercising every day, meditating, and a kind of learned obliviousness (I still love ya, Dad!). Church plays a big part. As does, apparently, ice cream.

My magic oomph can be triggered by the following:

• The poems of Frank O’Hara or Mary Oliver
• Bruce Chatwin — any book opened at any page
• Old-timey diaries, the more specific the entries the better
• Dark chocolate
• Strong coffee

“I’m glad that the rock is heavy
and that it feels all right in my heart” (Frank O’Hara)

Who wouldn’t want to write a fabulous sentence or two after reading that!

All this makes me reflect, again, how creative writing is so often a response—to joy, to mystery, to pain, to humor. To the lightness of life. To something deeply internal that, even if we don’t know what it is, we feel compelled to access.

I had no idea I would go down this particular path when I selected “Write a new post” in my Substack app and titled it “Now We Are 100.” I just started writing.

That’s magic! That’s oomph!

I want to know what triggers your magic oomph? Please share it here!