Pythagorus Said...

While working on my book this afternoon - I paused for a moment to look out the window.  There were two boxelder bugs literally stuck together running around the window and making their way as best they could.  Why were they stuck together? - Well, me thinks they "hooked up" to make more boxelder bugs but their association was now lengthier than either had planned.


There was a bigger bug (BB), and a smaller bug (SB).  BB was basically dragging SB around.  As I looked closer - I watched SB twisting and turning, doing it's best to detach from BB.  SB would move its head down as if to talk to BB and say "let me go", and "I'm so done being dragged around by you".  It was very evident (as it now appears in addition to German,  it seems I speak Boxelder) that SB had had enough, and wanted to move on to the next thing. 


This little dance went on for some time...SB kept twisting around and around and BB would just take off in another direction.  Finally - SB detached and quickly scurried off on a different path.  BB just sat there for a while, and finally flew away - notably in the opposite direction.


So after all the entomology talk, what does an ancient Greek mathemetician (who had a nice theorem by the by) have to do with boxelder bugs, windows or finally detaching from something one has outgrown?


Pythagorus said, "Eleven is the number of a cycle of new beginnings."


Carpe Diem, and so it is...

Carpe Diem - the Signs Aren't Always Pleasant

Several pieces of bad news in the last few days.  My very good friend Michael's father passed earlier this week.  My elderly aunt Caroline is awaiting a (hopefully) peaceful passage after having a heart attack and stroke. But the most challenging was receiving word this morning that one of my contemporaries from my university choir passed away from breast cancer.  She was about my age - late 40's and leaves behind two young children and a loving husband.  Although we were acquainted years ago, and have not kept in touch save a few intermittent reunions - it has given me a very uneasy feeling.  One never knows when this great adventure of life will be over.


I found myself recalling some memories of Geri, specifically surrounding a choir trip to Ireland in 1983 (and what a trip that was - yikes...).  She had a beautiful face and a sweet but quiet demeanor.  I find myself wishing I had known her better.  Now instead of having that opportunity, I can only offer prayers and condolences to her family.  Regrets aren't really my cup of tea, and there is certainly a lesson and reminder here that has all but hit me over the head.


Two people in a few days - done.  One more - to be done soon.  Done with their time on the planet.  It is never simple, but somehow the passage of an older person who has "lived" their life is somehow easier to accept.  A mother of an 8 year old and a 14 year doesn't compute.  Yes - there are reasons for everything, but it is still hard to swallow.


Breast cancer (or any kind of cancer) doesn't seem to care much for who it attacks, or the lives it changes and disrupts. It ravages those whose lives it touches, and it needs to stop.


I am re-energized for my upcoming Breast Cancer 3 Day later this month.  Those 60 miles will give me a renewed opportunity to bring funds and attention to this form of cancer.  And I will think of Geri and all the others who didn't make - and I will dream of a time and place when that doesn't happen any more.  More on that later...


In the meantime - it really is about Carpe Diem, cause you never know.  As Teri Nelles so aptly put in her email this morning - Hug those you love and tell them so. 


Carpe Diem, and so it is.