I decided to play
A little game
With seeds from
The plantain
I toss them in
To begin
A journey of what
Held within
And there she was
Hair in a truss
Jumping with glee
To see us.
Or is her hair
Long and fair
And aligned into
The pose of Chair?
And seeming tho
To be a float
O’er dark crescent
Hanging low
It’s been our weekend tradition for the past few years that regardless of weather, the $15,000 golden dog and I venture out into the woods for some contemplation and solitude amongst the maples and ash and evergreen and holly.
Last weekend was no different, and the wee yellow bitch and I set forth on another mid woods adventure. This moon goddess has a knack for finding the trails that are a) full of ticks, b) under construction or otherwise prohibited and c) complete mud pits. We ventured on all three, and at about 45 minutes in, she stopped and sat.
I took this as her cue that the 75° shaded woodland landscape was too hot for her furry frame, and got her water out of my backpack to hydrate her, and my own for myself.
Now for anyone who has met Luna, you know that she is the dog with the heaviest chi. And when I say heavy, what I mean is that when she does not want to move, she has the ability to increase the effects of gravity on her 45 lb frame to the extent that it is impossible to remove her from the ground. You cannot pull, push, pick up, coax or move her by any other means, and she will only move when she damn well feels like it again.
So we stayed in a section near the pond for approximately 25 minutes while she rolled around on the ground and encouraged ticks to hop a ride on her yellow school bus. In that time, I saw a small snake slither into the water, a red eared slider poking his head above the water, and a crop of wild blueberry bushes. Any of these things I may not have had the pleasure of observing if I had not stopped with her, and I realized I had been more worried about completing the hike rather than taking it.
And how much of our existence are our actions are motivated by our past or what might come next? It is okay to be present with what is happening. It is okay to breathe and find calm awareness regardless of circumstances. Sometimes it takes someone else (in this case, my four legged bestie) to show us the way. And what we discover are things that we never would have before had we not stopped.
So take a hike. And just stop.
Have you ever been good friends with someone you have never met?
I have, and his name was Whiskey Mike, or for short, (WM).
I met Mike through the alt.news group alt.drunken.bastards back in the 90s. Back then, I was into drinking, and talking about drinking was nearly as exciting as doing it.
WM was a frequent poster, relating interesting and campy stories from his drinking exhibitions. He was a beer and a side car of Jame-o kinda guy. The kind that sits at the end of the bar and minds his own business kinda guy. The kind that when trouble sought him out it was one swift discourse and it was over kinda guy.
We hit it off from the very beginning. We were about the same age, and there’s some magical genX bonding of water hose drinking childhoods that you can’t find anywhere else. Our bond was never sexual. We just clicked and made each other laugh, and both of us needed the comic relief.
WM was from Milwaukee, and worked in IT. He was brilliant, and hardworking. And occasionally lost jobs for one reason or another. The last I had heard from him, he was in Florida and living near his mom helping her out. This was about 5 years ago.
This past week I was in Milwaukee for business and realized how long it had been since we chatted. So I looked him up.
Only to discover he had passed away several years ago.
So if you’re reading this today, let this be your sign to check in on your friends. Even the best ones you’ve never met.
A Walk In Neverland 