Literally  the French word “essai” means trial or attempt  and Montaigne “invented the literary form of essay  a short subjective treatment of a given topic” (to quote the Wiki page on Montaigne)  so Montaigne is an obvious model for Fulghum’s sort of writing  celebrating the ordinary as he does (he is most well known for his bestselling book All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten)