Alone With Nature

His desire for solitude brought him to the wilderness, because he was stressed by the demands of everyday life, so he felt the need to get away.  Out here he was transported to a calm state, which gave him the balance he required, so he could enjoy all of the sights, sounds, smells, and other sensations that had become numb because the city where he lived, robbed him of that.  Ever since he read “The Call Of The Wild” in Middle School, he wanted to be one with nature.  George has been escaping to the outdoors for as long as he could remember, as he loves hiking and camping.  He was playing guitar in his tent, when this yearning desire to breathe fresh air overwhelmed him.  George needed to experience the various sensual and natural pleasures that he had sadly let slide for far too long.  The campground which he was staying at was not totally off the grid, as it had showers, bathrooms, and electricity and for George this was serenity.

George knew it was getting late so he took his Bell + Howell LED Taclight Lantern with him when he went out for a walk.  He stood in the middle of this field watching the setting sun, as the night sky was coming alive.  He wanted to be lost in this moment, taking in all of the burning bright lights that were appearing in the night sky.  George realized that nothing is more natural than the cycle of sunset to night to sunrise, and he was going to catch it all, as he felt this is the greatest show on earth.  George has a coffee mug with the Vincent van Gogh painting ‘Starry Night’ on it which was painted while he was staying in an asylum.  Vincent was being treated for epileptic fits, when began to suffer these hallucinations and he had thoughts of suicide as he plunged deeper into depression.  Van Gogh incorporated a tonal shift into this painting, dominating it with blue, maybe because he was sad at the time when he painted this.  The sky is the divine, giving the viewer a dreamlike state of night stars.  Some see this work as being unreal, but George sees it as being beyond human comprehension and probably best if it stays just out of reach.  George couldn’t help himself as he just burst our singing lyrics from Don McLean’s ‘Vincent (Starry, Starry Night)’. “Starry, starry night.  Paint your palette blue and gray.  Look out on a summer’s day, with eyes that know the darkness in my soul.”

Written for Sadje at Keep It Alive What Do You See #188.

Fanny Pack

All his bags are packed, and he is ready to go, sitting patiently on the floor.  There is a taxi outside that is blowing his horn.  He is on his way to New Orleans this morning, leaving out of Nashville, Tennessee.  He is gonna leave this city, he has to get away, because of all this fussing and fighting, he knows he can’t stay.  He loves to travel, and he has had his share, heading out on the highway and looking for adventure.  He just can’t wait to get on the road again.  Someday, and he don’t know when, he will get to that place, and he will take a walk in the sun.  It is a beautiful day, as the sun beats down, he has the radio on and the big wheels keep on turning, carrying him home to his kin.  Most of the cats that he meets on the street speak of true love, but most of the time they’re sitting and crying at home.  Some’ll win, some will lose, and some are born to sing the blues.  He doesn’t know where he is running now, he is just running.  He is running down the road trying to loosen his load, riding nowhere, Sunday driving.  Life goes on, long after the thrill of living is gone, but he is a man of means by no means, the King of the road.

Written for Sadje at Keep It Alive What Do You See #187.

Her Little Man

He holds his mother’s face in his small hands and smiles affectionately at her, knowing that she will always be there for him.  She refers to her son as her little man, and she prays that they will always stay that way with each other, till the day comes when she has to let him go.  She understands that he will eventually grow up and they will not be able to play make believe any more, but she will try to hold on to these precious memories of looking at his face, as long as she can.  Nothing lasts forever and that is the way things have to be, but for now he is her little man, and he is all that she wants to see.  She wishes that she could capture all of the love that she shares with her son from the time she gave birth to him, all the way up to the day where he takes his own bride by the hand.  It is these intimate moments that they have with each other that she cherishes the most.

Written for Sadje at Keep It Alive What Do You See #186.

Looking Back Glass

Deep down in each of us there is an image of the child that we once were.  We all started out innocent like a blank slate and we can channel this again with my new invention, which I call the Looking Back Glass.  I developed an alternate universe beyond where we live, but it does have limitations, as you can’t go through the looking glass yet.  You are only able to see your younger self, so you can’t give the younger version of you any advice, as that would disrupt the time continuum.  The portal only stays open for 5 minutes and your younger self will not recognize you, otherwise it could end reality as we know it.  I knew that space is bent, so I figured that spacetime could also be bent and that is how I invented this unique device.  This wormhole mirror can teleport your brain into thinking that you are on the other side and allowing you to revisit the complexities and terrors of your adolescence as you were growing up, where you made the scene week by week, day to day, hour to hour, while the gate is straight, deep and wide and maybe someday you will be able to break on through to the other side.

Written for Sadje at Keep It Alive What Do You See #185.

No Rest for the Weary

The world can be a cruel place, and nobody knows this better than Katharina who has been struggling her whole life.  Katharina lives in Nicaragua where repression is among the most intense a Western Hemisphere country has experienced in decades.  Katharina is one tough elderly woman, and she not only has to carry her own water back to her home, but she is also responsible for removing all of the human waste herself, collecting it and hauling it out of the home.  Every morning she walks 5 miles to wait in line at a pump so she could get 2 buckets of water, as this work is considered to be a woman’s job.  It’s a physically demanding, time-consuming responsibility and this work almost always falls to females.  It takes her just over an hour and a half to walk the five miles and most days she has to wait a half hour on the line to use the pump and then it is a good two hour walk back home as she takes it slower, because the water is heavy, and she doesn’t want to spill any of it.  The trip was particularly difficult today because the grass in the field that she walks through is really high now.  In Katharina’s part of the world there is no running water, so she has been doing this task her whole life.  When she gets back with the water, she takes a half hour to rest as she just turned 80 and then it is time for her to clean out the latrine.  I feel bad that Katharina has to deal with this lifestyle inequality, but I have my own problems.

Written for Sadje at Keep It Alive What Do You See #184.

That Same Dream

Cynthia felt a deep connection with her therapist as they spent time getting to know each other which gave Cynthia the confidence to share everything with Dr. Moenssens.  Cynthia paid the receptionist for her treatment before her session started and she has seen many other mental health experts before, but she knew that she was finally making some progress.  Dr. Moenssens specialized in depression therapy, but she also handled anxiety and ADHD, along with marriage counseling.  Cynthia was a nervous wreck today, but she waited patiently till the receptionist told her to go in.  Cynthia went into Dr. Moenssens office, and she laid down on the couch so she could access her provocative thoughts and feelings.  Dr. Moenssens and her how she was doing today, and Cynthia said, “It happened again, that same recurring nightmare.”

Dr. Moenssens said, “The one where you are sliding off the edge of a precipice, oh that is so frightening, and we must get to the bottom of this.  Tell me everything that you can remember, no detail is too small or unimportant.”  Cynthia said, “It always starts off the same way where I am laying down on this slab of concrete and it is moving which makes me panic, as I feel as if I am going to fall off the edge of the world.  I don’t know how I got there or what I am doing there, but I know that I am extremely close to disaster.  The concrete slab starts sliding faster and I know that it is just moments away from going over the cliff with me on it and then I see a hand reaching toward me offering me help, but it seems to be just out of my reach.  I try to concentrate on the face of the person whose hand is extended toward me, but the slab keeps moving downward and I can’t pay attention to anything that is happening around me.  I always wake up at this point, drenched in sweat.”

Dr. Moenssens said, “Most psychiatrists or psychoanalysts will say that a dream about falling off a precipice usually is symbolic of something that is causing you anxiety or fear in your life, which is probably what is going on here.  It most likely represents a situation that you feel is out of your control.  Alternatively, this dream can warn your subconscious mind to pay attention to what is happening around you.  The precipice in your dream may be associated with you having to make an important choice.  You are probably feeling that you are being forced to make some kind of change and are uncertain how to go about this.  You must use your conscious awareness to explore transitions so that you can find a new pathway forward.  You might need to be more down to earth in your decisions and move toward your center, so you can be more grounded in the sense of who you really are.  Well, that is all for today Cynthia, as it seems like your time is up, but I will see you again next week and if you have this dream again, try to recognize the person who is trying to save you from falling off the cliff.”

Written for Sadje at Keep It Alive What Do You See #183.

Will You Love Me Forever

It never felt so good, it never felt so right when I asked you to be my wife.  I know that variety is the spice of life, but I am certain that I will never grow tired of you and our love will never end.  I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you.  I realize that a lot of people get divorced, but that won’t happen to us because I will love you forever.  I really need you and I will never leave you.  I plan to make you happy for the rest of your life.  Forever is a long time and we will have our ups and downs, but I will never leave you and every day I will tell you how much I love you.  Forever is a word which is spoken between lovers to signify that we will keep our promise to stay together.  When you have a love that is worth fighting for, you can’t say goodbye to it, as it will never leave you.

Written for Sadje at Keep It Alive What Do You See #182.

Rainforest

When Trump said that we are on the brink of World War III, I packed up all of my belongings and moved to the rainforest.  A global conflict between nuclear armed powers would mean death and destruction on the scale unmatched in human history and the rainforest may be the only safe place left on the planet.  Trump said that he can save us from this nuclear Armageddon, because he doesn’t mind puckering up his lips and kissing Putin’s backside as he actually enjoys doing that.  The thing is that I don’t think that Trump will be reelected, because most of the country doesn’t want him, and they think that he is a deranged psychopath.

I thought about moving to Switzerland because they don’t get involved in wars, but they are almost entirely dependent on imports for their food and I don’t want to starve to death.  If I moved to New Zealand, I would probably be safe, but then I would have to eat sheep every day.  Everything grows in the rainforest, and I could survive eating fruits and I heard that nuts are plentiful.  I could learn how to fish, and I could try eating some reptiles and I bet it can’t be too difficult catching a sloth or two, although I have read that it is slimy, chewy and gamey, and most people that have eaten sloth say that one serving is enough for a lifetime.  Anyways, I picked up this great yellow rain jacket that should keep me dry.

Written for Sadje at Keep It Alive What Do You See #181.

Book Possession

He has a passion for collecting and possessing books, but he never actually reads any of them.  He is suffering from bibliomania, which can be a symptom of obsessive–compulsive disorder which involves the collecting or even hoarding of books to the point where his social relations and even his health is being damaged.  He is a booklover that is constantly checking the bestseller list, but all the books that he purchases remain unread.  When he walks by a bookstore, he feels the need to buy one or more of them.  This is a serious hobby for him, and he is an aficionado with thousands of books in his collection.  The Japanese word “tsundoku” describes him best, as he enjoys stockpiling books that will never be consumed.  This is an expensive hobby, but he looks at it like an investment, however having all of these books strewn around his house is driving his wife crazy.  They have guests coming over today and she grabbed a bunch of his books and tossed them in the fireplace, secretly wishing that she could burn all of them.

Written for Sadje at Keep It Alive What Do You See #180.

Grabbing the Golden Ring

He wanted to grab for the golden ring, and I had to let him do it, and not say anything, even if I thought he was not ready.  When you have kids, you have to let them fall, so you can build up their confidence and not destroy their self-esteem.  You should try to not follow them around wherever they go, but it would be fine for you to grab them to slow things down while they are falling.  As they walk across the balance beam of life, there will be times when they will fall off and you can’t reach up every time to try and catch them.  You can’t let them fall down a whole flight of stairs, or injure themselves when there are sharp objects around, but if you enclose them in bubble wrap, they will never be able to experience the consequences of their actions, so they will never grow up.  There will come a time when it is necessary for you to take the training wheels off of their bike.  All children will eventually grow up and they need to know how to stand on their own feet, so they have to develop the motor skills involved with falling down and picking themselves back up again.  You need to love and protect your children, but that must stop short of smothering them, as that will end up crushing their spirit.  Safety is always important, because this will prevent serious injuries, but children need to get feedback from their body, so they can learn how to catch themselves when they feel that they are losing their balance.  This will make them resilient, as all children will face turmoil, especially as they struggle toward maturity, and by meeting various obstacles, they can learn how to overcome them through perseverance, and hopefully in the end, they will be able to triumph and grab that golden ring.

Written for Sadje at Keep It Alive What Do You See #179.