When your faculties begin discussing their future amongst themselves, excluding you from even suggestion making, you have reached old(er) age — a vast wonderland of familiarities that once were unmistakably you. (Paraphrased, Susan Mrosak)
Oh, better to go to Google any day to savor derivatives, as you weep hot tears, than watch the runway lengthening to a blue scream. (Maxine Kumin)
Staggering to the bathroom in the uncertain hours of early morning is an adventure these days, as you watch your legs taking on a circuitous route of their own. Your knees, you notice, particularly seem to want to veer to the left rather than the more direct route your brain is indicating. But you eventually make it, and after relieving yourself, then again have an indecisive moment when you and your knees have a discussion about the best strategy to stand up.
I am becoming more philosophical about it all, having decided that, as the Jungian analyst James Hillman says, growing down/older means going with the sag of gravity that accompanies aging rather than fighting it.
He also talks about the world being made up more of verbs rather than nouns — “the oriole doesn’t see a branch, but rather an occasion for perching; the cat doesn’t see a thing we call an empty box; it sees safe hiding for peering. The bear doesn’t smell honeycomb, but the opportunity for delicious feeding. The world is buzzing and blooming with information, always available . . .” A world inviting us to take part.
Kinda like I talked about yesterday in these pages when I suggested putting ourselves in the sunshine, choosing how we want to perceive an event or happening. Seeing the world in verbs sure brings us into an appreciation of the present moment because we’re forced to embrace uncertainty.
I think I was never more aware of this verb business than when several years ago during a blizzard, a substantial piece of my land suddenly shifted or “landed” — what I had always considered a fixed noun, my LAND — was going about the process of LANDING — perhaps a process perfectly obvious to the reader, but I was amazed. Maybe it goes back to that phrase “the ground shifted beneath her feet,” when we have a sudden insight or realization.
How I do meander on. Kinda like that circuitous route to the bathroom in the mornings. Ah, well. Thanks for your patience as I free associate on the way. 😵💫