tammytoes

Observation 1: While the whole Easter Bunny phenomenon is really bizarre, Easter remains a great holiday because you’re actively encouraged to eat candy in the morning. Mmm…candy.

Observation 2: Old necks don’t bend quite like young necks.

Observation 3: Political incompatibility is increasingly becoming more difficult to overcome. In these crazy, divided, extreme days, it’s so hard to practice tolerance and inclusivenss. The gulf between liberals and conservatives, the haves and the have-nots, the evangelicals and the secularists, has become so great – and real-life stakes so high – that finding your friends and loved ones on the other side is painful. We should eat candy in the morning with them. Beyond that, I’m not sure what we should do.

Observation 4: Striped socks are very happy.

Observation 5: People are marvelous in unimagineable ways. Or perhaps unimagineable in marvelous ways. Or whatever.

Observation 6: We don’t spend enough time thinking about our cells.

Note to Congress:

Yeah, um, I don’t want to be a pest and all, and I know that you’re REALLY busy denying a woman in Florida the ability to die with some kind of dignity and, of course, you’ve got your hands full with investigating how steroid use in baseball is the biggest threat to American children (silly me! I thought that poverty and lack of access to resources and opportunities would surely rank higher…) but, um, I was just thinking that there might be a few more important things happening right now, like maybe that BIG war thing that’s still happening in Iraq? And, I know that, like, you had a hard couple of weeks voting down an increase in minimum wage (after all, we all know that anybody can live on $206 per week before taxes EASILY) and changing the bankruptcy laws (I bet you guys got some pretty good thank you gifts from the credit card companies for that one, didn’tcha?) and, of course, you were busy driving a mighty big pipeline into the Alaskan wilderness, but I was really thinking that you might want to make some time to think about issues like public education, the mammoth deficit, nuclear proliferation, and health care? Could you squeeze some of that in, too?

By the way, I was wondering if you could tell me what kind of conservatism you’re practicing these days? ‘Cause, like, I always believed that true conservatives didn’t really think that the government should be micro-managing all of us like this. You know, like, telling us what to do with our bodies and stuff, and like, running up the debt. Just wondering.

-Tammy

I was in a lousy mood this week, so I didn’t consult my daytimer much in an effort to forget responsibilities, meetings, and obligations (which didn’t work, making the week even worse) and I failed to notice that today was the first day of Spring. Nonetheless, the air felt different- crisp and welcoming – and Ray and I took to the tennis court. Great lungfuls of air. What a great day. What a great season. I return to the magic red daytimer renewed, but this time with anticipation about what’s to come.

“The language of pat seasons
collapses pumpkins in spring
false labor slides like mud
off the face of ease
and whatever I turn my hand to
pales in the sun.”
- Audre Lorde

Here are some early season notes from a brain waking up from a winter on the couch:

I believe that corn is delicious. I believe that love is a great thing. I believe that roller derby is the sport of champions. I believe the West is the best. I believe in March Madness. I believe that, sooner or later, everything we love from our childhoods will appear on t-shirts at Urban Outfitters. I believe that thirty is astoundingly young. I believe that our current administration is so morally bankrupt that anyone who voted for it who also possesses an IQ greater than a carrot will soon regret ever voting for it. I believe I should read The Iliad and The Odyssey again. I believe that Brian Cox is the most entertaining character actor of his generation. I believe the system sucks. I believe that boston terriers are adorable. I believe that my nerve damage is mostly healed. I believe that working one job is enough. I believe in being nice.

February passed by without comment, which is not altogether an accident on my part. I love the first day of March. Spring is months off, but I can catch a whiff of it in the air. Let it snow! The days are longer, anyhow.