The Cheshire Cat

If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there." Wise observation by Lewis Carroll. The Cheshire cat advised something like it to Alice. So, if you don't know or care where you are going, then take any road at all. They all get there. Ah, but the next trick is to know when you get there. Carroll said you would know when you get there because the road would end. So simple.

I can't help thinking that the world is in Wonderland with Alice. It is definitely going somewhere and we will definitely know when we get there (the end). My 80-something year old grandmother by marriage was dying of cancer and said that she didn't much mind the dying, it was the approach road she was worried about. This all fits together somehow. Curiouser and curiouser. And, we might not get any older, either.

Photo: katrinastonoff.wordpress.com/2009/09/

Your Song is Your Own

I was cruis'n on the treadmill this morning with Pandora Radio streaming loud and clear. "Blood, Sweat and Tears Radio" is the station I use. The pounding rhythm is just about right for 4 miles an hour. Anyway, this is a sort of "Zen" part of the day, where thoughts come unbidden and often forgotten in the fog. The Beatles were singing "Yesterday". "Suddenly, I'm not half the man I used to be..." and I thought about the minor struggles and minor aches and pains and though Yeah, that's me. But the rest of the song is way off. Other lyrics floated by... "If I could save time in a bottle....." ....."killing me softly with her song...." ..."nothing I can do about it now...."...."He stopped loving her today....."....."put'em in a tree museum...." WHOA!!!

Bits and pieces of songs in some ways reflect bits and pieces of life, don't they? Every so often you hear a song or read a poem and say "YES"! That's ME! Maybe so, maybe not. (Jim Croce Radio is on now and Simon and Garfunkel are doing Mrs. Robinson). Don't forget to listen or read the whole thing. Life is more than bits and pieces.

And never forget: Your song is uniquely your own. No one else can sing it or know it.

Bad Decisions make Good Stories

I got this aphorism in a list from a friend and thought about my essays. Yup, many of them really represent bad decisions. Thing is the decisions didn't all seem bad at the time. You gotta wonder if the decisions we make every day that seem reasonable will be fodder for good stories later. Hmmmm.

Photo: http://www.zazzle.com/golden_oldies/gifts?cg=196731234868895805