My name is Sara McEvoy.  I am a twenty-something-year-old:

wife,

daughter,

sister,

Clinical Doctor of Physical Therapy,

athlete,

a writer, a sometimes drinker of wine and tequila, an always lover of dogs, and a good old-fashioned human.

What is the Exponent of Earth?

The exponent of earth is a phrase–a belief system if you will–which I gleaned from a poem written by Emily Dickinson.  The poem is as follows:

Love — is anterior to Life –
Posterior — to Death –
Initial of Creation, and
The Exponent of Earth –

I found this poem, as I find most of Dickinson’s work, to be an unembellished transcript of some of the deepest commentary on human life.  The last line particularly struck me, as a lover of alliteration and assonance may I be.  When I read this phrase I recognized it as one that would quickly become a frequent part of my conscious life.  It encapsulates, after all, in a handful of simple words, the reason I believe that I am here (that, and the glorious march of evolution).  Why do I feel pretty happy most of the time? Why do I have goals, and want to pursue these goals, and want to share this pursuit with others?  Why do I love to write?  Why are my parents, my sisters, and my husband the most important people in my life?  All of these questions can be answered with this: love.  As cheesy as it sounds, love is what gives my life its meaning, if one were to define such a thing.  This is not to say that I spend every waking moment gushing rainbows and construction paper hearts out of my ears, sobbing with joy and gratefulness.  Often–usually–I recognize and appreciate the love in my life more subtly.  And this is okay.  I am at least thankful for my awareness.

The Exponent of Earth is my mantra of love.  We cannot dream, we cannot aspire, we cannot achieve, we cannot thrive, we cannot do much of anything without love.  We cannot do much without quite a few other things, too, of course, but at the root of these things are love.  A love of _______________.  I will spend my life filling in this blank, over and over again.

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