"As I sat in the bathtub soaping a meditative foot and singing, if I remember correctly, 'Pale Hands I Loved Beside the Shalimar', it would be deceiving my public to say that I was feeling a boomps-a-daisy." -P.G. Wodehouse
....it would be deceiving
my public to say that everything is swell, so I am going to remind myself that I have had an incredible life (and the story isn't even over yet) by doing a random wordy free fall bungee jump...right on the threshold of....something....new? It came out just like this, in this order. My life, it's so big. I forget sometimes to be awed and grateful.
I’ve lived in California, Idaho, Florida, Colorado, North Dakota, Washington and Alaska. I’ve seen
Petra, the Atlantic, the Pacific, the Med, the Red, the Dead, DC, Ohio, Iowa, Florida, Kansas,
Nevada, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, Arizona, New Mexico, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi,
California, Alaska, Minnesota, South Dakota, Nevada, Idaho, Hawaii - Maui, Big Island, Kauai,
Oregon, Montana, Maryland, Jordon, Israel, Germany, Scotland, Ireland, Austria, Wales, Australia,
Tasmania, British Columbia, Alberta. I’d like to see Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Maine,
Pennsylvania, Virginia, Wisconsin, South Africa, isle of wight, Cornwall, The Hebrides. I’d like to
bicycle around Lake Michigan, the Great River Road, Paddle parts of the Missouri, the Snake, the
Columbia, and the Colorado Rivers.I can cut hair, cook for crowds, build with wood, weave baskets,
sculpt, weave, embroidery, crochet, make paper flowers, draw, paint, give affection, have amazing
orgasms, take pictures, edit, write poetry, write, I’ve been obscurely published 3 times, I’ve met
Kathleen Norris, Nigel Goodwin, Gregory Wolfe, Jeff Overstreet, Scott Cairns, Lucy Shaw, John
Hoyte, Gregory Orr, Patricia Hampl, Warren Farha, Michael Card, David and Karen Nee, David
Dark, Sarah Masen, Charlie and Andi Ashworth, Over The Rhine, Steve Laube, Jerry Root, Earl
Palmer, Dick Staub, and Eugene and Jan Peterson which means I might as well have met Bono. I
had a beautiful garden and a hospitable home. I’ve served thousands of people food. I have 2
daughters who love me and husband who’s been faithful, undeservedly. I have seen nuns ride horses
in full habit. I’ve seen the northern lights. I’ve heard rocks roar and felt the ground tremble in
Hawaii. I’ve heard the rocks sing in Yelapa, Mexico. I’ve watched a young man shoot heroin. I heard
God laugh - twice. He danced with me once. He teased me on the beach twice. I’ve watched a
silversmith engrave, a cowboy braid leather in the round for a whip, a potter wrestle 15 pounds of
clay into a bread bowl for me. I’ve seen a horse trained and a donkey pack. I’ve milked a cow and
collected eggs, I’ve butchered chickens and cried for my butchered lamb. I’ve seen had a lamb and
dog put down. I’ve picked corn, hoed beets, planted beans, stacked hay, and dug potatoes. I’ve
harvested berries and filled a freezer. I’ve said “maybe next year for years. I intimately know the
mystery of sourdough and am still fascinated, after 35 years. I yearn for an outdoor stone hearth oven,
a place by the salt water, a whitehall slide seat row boat, an ocean kayak, I think horse toots are the
sweetest perfume. I have given thanks because He asked me to. I’ve hiked Tasmania’s Overland
Track I’ve wept more tears than I knew I had. I’ve seen, picked up, saved, and given away thousand
of heart shaped rocks. I feel blessed when I see rainbows, shooting stars, and pennies. I have gambled
with a quarter doing heads or tails with God. It didn’t turn out well. He didn’t want me addicted to
knowing for sure. I have crossed latitudes and divides, great rivers and oceans. I have seen old man’s
beard dripping to the ground and gravestones resting beside the sea. I have seen mill stones used for
gates keeping happy sheep. I saw a wallaby stretch her pocket out for her joey. I’ve laid down new
flooring and painted a 2 story house. I think I felt an angel correct me at the wheel. I believed I heard
God’s audible voice once as a child. But it must not have been. I’ve imagined myself into Little
House on the Prairie as well as Pride and Prejudice. I feel the punch or cut or birth pangs in movies.
Blood makes me faint. I get motion sick on merry go rounds and swings -now that I’m old - which
makes me sad. I crave avocados, roasted vegetables, filberts, peanut butter and raw milk. I play piano
badly only in the key of C. I used to play accordion. I can pick up an harmonica and make music. I
wish I played the banjo. I want to learn more about stone boats, stone soup and hearthstones -
anchoring hospitality to safe harbors where people commune together. I love to garden with my
daughter. I’ve seen opium poppy fields. Moab’s Arches is my favorite National Park. My favorite
childish memory was watching my father fell and chop trees. I come from a formidable family of pie
snobs. Everyday I pray to notice and learn how to love. I've tried to incubate eggs in between my
breasts. I read several books simultaneously. I have a compulsion to read every word I see and can't
stop myself. I used to suck my thumb as a child. I'm currently homeless. I just found out there was
another child like me long ago. Her name was Catherine. Laura Riding wrote her four letters. I read
them on Brainpickin's and now know I'm not alone.
