26 April 2009

Funny things about us

Yesterday I remembered my friend's theory that when you're in love, that line of hair grows between your belly-button on down.

Today I found the little jar of civet musk that my mother insisted on giving to me because she had to buy some and got too much to keep for herself. What, for all the home perfume making she and I have been doing? No (and no, we're not home perfume designers), because it's this rare extract from a civet cat. Had to have it, just the way she had to stop to check raccoons for a mojo (she finally found one, but not when she was with me, thank goodness). My mother used to eat dirt as a kid -- now of course it's a syndrome with a name: pica. This dirt-seeking must have horrified her genteel mother, born in the early 1900s and escaping Oklahoma as quickly as she learned what it meant to be from there.

I am sure I have bizarre beliefs too, manias that manifest themselves in ways that puzzle my pals. I make up stories when nothing's happening. But right now they all seem so commonplace to me that I can't pick them out.

25 April 2009

Believe it!

Today I am amazed that it's taken me this long to find out what I believe:

I believe in my existence here on this planet.

I believe in dancing, and music, listening, singing, making, or...?

I believe that if there's a "god," or God, we're way too small to know what and why that god-entity is doing.

I believe that concept it's easier for me to understand if I stick an extra "o" in "God": Good.

Conversely, I believe in love. The love of family, including all the friends who become one's adult family along the way.

I believe faith is an appealing idea. As a reality, I've never quite found the right fit. I have faith in the ever-unfolding quality of the world. Everything must pass.

As my mother has always said, "Karma is Karma, neh?"

I believe there's an untapped synergy between the mind and the gut

I believe the medical-industrial complex has egregiously mismatched its collective delusion about what they can fix with their pharmaceutical formulas and created worse problems for many, many people, just because of unexpected side effects of multiple drug interactions.

I believe writing and editing help me stay afloat and move through my life in a constructive way. Without them I could have gone off the rails as a teenager.

I believe listening to all those Who and Stones and Dead and Michael Penn and Michael Franti and Sheryl Crow and Neil Finn and Gomez lyrics has shaped me in ways I'm still trying to understand -- and make the most of.

I love films and yet persist in believing I have an obligation not only to receive stories but also to tell some of my own.

I believe in being a warm lap for a kitty or kid, or a sweetheart.

I believe any two adults of sound mind should legally be able to decide they are lifelong partners. Like I said, I believe in love.

I believe loving and being loved by my husband and daughter makes me a better person every day.