Lava life…

In contrast to the Siamese,

the stickleback,

at mating time,

glows not only when it sees an opponent,

or a female,

but does so as long as it is in the vicinity of its nest,

in its own chosen territory…

The basic principle of his fighting is,

My home is my castle…

In both species,

it is the male,

and not the female,

that undertakes the building of the nest,

and the care of the young…

The future father only begins to think of love,

when the cradle for the expected children is ready…

— in King Solomon’s Ring by Konrad Z. Lorenz

When I was first on my own,

everyone seemed hell bent on setting me up with any single man they could scratch up from under a rock…

Under the guise of why don’t you come over with the girls,

we’ll make you dinner,

I could smell the incongruency of intent as soon as I walked in the door…

And I could feel his barrel of anxiety like a ticking time bomb,

in my stomach,

from a distance…

Like that’s what I needed to add to my plate,

when my own bowl of noodles was already spilling with past due date left overs…

I was peripherally aware of the hands of karma keeping me together with the father of my daughters,

and the hands of spirit now holding me in place for the purpose of light,

have got my full attention…

Looking back on it now I can’t believe the things I heard from so called friends,

and mature people…

One of the favorite bits of information that scared me then,

and makes me laugh now is,

Little Buddy,

all a guy wants is to get his car out of the garage…

I noticed that her date was so full of wanting that he had to stop at the bar,

to get half-cut with liquid courage,

every single night he drove over to her house,

to get his hands on an engine full of carbon monoxide…

This barfly didn’t stop his antics after they rushed into marriage,

and reproduced…

Why is it that animals don’t require getting loaded for the natural,

and mutual,

expression of desire???

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know about seeing double,

and the naked truth of the morning after…

My adult opinion is that if you’re in for a journey worth remembering,

you want a different kind of intoxication…

And if you’re in the right place at the right time,

things just take care of themselves…

Inspiration can’t be stopped…

But you have to open,

clear,

and willing to wait for it…

On Saturday I could hear some mariachi music in the distance…

So I headed out with a satchel of knitting,

and an iced chai latte,

in search…

On my way to the music,

I bumped into a neighbour who had moved to Saskatchewan,

when she was carrying her second child,

fourteen years after her first,

to be closer to the in-laws…

She returned to these stomping grounds,

to continue her work in supporting people who are hard to house…

When I’m hanging lights in the tree out front,

she rushes by on her newfangled I Phone,

saying things like,

That information you have about the wiring of this new generation of children is something we parents need to know…

I’m coming over for tea so you can download it…

I have to tell her,

That particular file is still integrating,

and the data is not classifiable…

But on this Saturday,

seeing me by myself,

and not putting two and two together,

she asked,

Where are your girls???

I noticed that I didn’t flinch,

and was able to answer her question without a frog at my throat…

She responded with,

I‘d like some time on my own,

but I don’t know what I’d do with it…

I can’t seem to settle down when my children aren’t around…

I told her I had to bootcamp to learn how to sit,

empty out,

and incubate…

That this is the hardest thing I’ve ever done for myself,

and every day is a struggle not to seek out distraction…

I knew that her man was away on tour,

and as she introduced me to his mother visiting from the prairies,

as a very old neighbour of ours,

I said,

The first time I met your son was when he painted my house twelve years ago,

before he became a big star…

My neighbour,

his partner,

laughed,

and said,

rather seriously,

He may be going back to painting houses…

He’s tired of being away on the road…

Now all he wants to do is to be at home…