There's something pushing me as far as I can go

[sovay]

It is my brother's birthday. The monarch butterfly which my mother discovered as an egg on a milkweed leaf last week and tenderly brought inside to be sheltered from hungry birds and fed on fresh-picked milkweed eclosed and flew free this afternoon, she hopes to join its kindred in migration; she showed me pictures of the transparent empty chrysalis, the wings like black and gold stained glass. My physical situation which had been cautiously mending has rather abruptly cratered. And Toni Morrison died. I go back and forth between feeling philosophical about the constant changing of the universe and thinking that a small amount of stability really wouldn't hurt anyone.

Comments

[redbird]

My sympathies on the physical situation being suddenly worse.

[gwynnega]

I'm sorry your physical situation isn't doing better.

I still remember the time I kept a chrysalis in a jar as a child; when it turned into a butterfly and I set it free, it actually played with me outside my house--landing on my hand, flying nearby, perching on my hand again--for about half an hour until it finally flew away.

[lauradi7dw]

You're older than my daughter, but possibly were still in the Lexington Public school system in the early to mid-1990s when Susan Gilbert, teacher at Bridge, flew in an airplane to Texas to release the butterflies that her class had hatched (?) too late for them to make it that far by flying on their own.

[asakiyume]

Blessings on the monarch. Of course I can't help but think of your story, too.

I brought some Toni Morrison quotes in for my students. I was delighted to have one student pipe up that she liked this one:

If there is a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, you must be the one to write it. (She was in the minority--most students preferred You wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down.)

[cmcmck]

Stability?

Ah yes, I remember that.

Sigh :o(

[oracne]

It is also the birthday of the sister immediately above me!

I know Toni Morrison was 88, but it still seems too soon. Like with Ursula. Our writing mothers.

I hope you feel better soon.

[choco_frosh]

My physical situation which had been cautiously mending has rather abruptly cratered.
Shit. < hugs > And as usual, lemme know if there's anything I can do...

[selkie]

We're eating Josh some time before the Close the Camps protest on the 11th, but if you need him pureed, I'll just put the barbecue sauce in the blender.
(We are eating him.)