Leaving Traces
IMAGINE: THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO, someone was inspired to create by tracing the outline of their hands on this cave wall. Who were they and what inspired them to LEAVE A TRACE?
- Trace. A small mark or sign left behind, as in “A trace of a fingerprint remained.”
- Trace. A small quantity or lingering hint, as in “Only a trace of her story was found.”
- Trace. To follow. To track. To discover by investigating, as in “They tried to trace the truth.”
- Trace. A light outline, as in “She traced the leaf’s shape on paper.”
- Trace. To describe or delineate gradually, as in “Historians trace the rise of Christianity from its earliest days to the present.”
- Trace. In science; small but measurable, as in “Trace elements.”
- Trace (obsolete). A path; a track, as in “A trace led through the forest to an open meadow.”
Trace. What my father used to call me, as in “You know, Trace …” (Short for Tracey ☺)
When he started a sentence that way, I knew a thought, an observation, a curiosity was on the way — but rarely an opinion or a judgement. Sometimes advice, but only if I insisted.
So many traces. Welcome to mine.
