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| Scientists react to images from Pluto |
I flipped through my emails early this morning, the ritual of deletion and clicks. I read a horrifying beginning of an article about Tinder in this month's Vanity Fair -- was relieved when I couldn't go further as a non-subscriber. I scrolled through a few tweets about last night's Republican "debate" and resolved, again, to not pay attention to anything having to do with those men and women -- did you hear me say ANYTHING? -- until September of 2016. I read somewhere that this is how they do it in France, so barring any demands to re-read Proust, I'm French for a year. Little threads of despair, hovering. My knee hurts, and I bet it's osteoarthritis, and I bet it's because I haven't exercised enough -- well, let's be honest -- my entire life. There's also the age factor and the curious, horrible way things happen when you get older -- not gradually, but all of a sudden. Hairs sprouting from chins, a big toe that crackles, jowls and a front tooth that appears to be hearkening back to pre-orthodontia buck tooth days. Then I saw that photo, and tears streamed down my face (there's no original way to write that) because, really, we're all just hanging out here for a short time and the universe is vast and unknowable. As my compatriot Blaise Pascal said in the 17th century (remember I'm French for a year), vous admirez toujours ce que vous ne comprenez vraiment pas.*
*You always admire what you really don't understand.
It is so very, very comforting to me to realize how incredibly small and unimportant I am in this universe. Maybe that's why I love to be outside so much. Trees and water and sky remind me of that fact.
ReplyDeleteMe, too. I don't understand why people are so frightened of the immensity of the universe. It has the opposite effect on me.
DeleteRogue chin hairs and Pluto, what else do we need to know? My sympathies to your knee. Oy. xo
ReplyDeleteWell, that's a little poem to aging, isn't it?
DeleteI just wrote the funniest and wittiest comment I have ever written in my entire life .... and then the power when out.
ReplyDeleteGenius like that only strikes once in a great while. So pretend that you read it and laugh hysterically.
I do however remember saying that a g e s p o t s (which pop up one after the other e v e r y single day) "mark" you as being old like nothing else can, except for full on dementia - which I think I also have because
what was I saying?
Yes! I left out agespots. I don't really have them today, but who knows about tomorrow?
DeleteOh,yes. Here was my point...sunscreen, Elizabeth, sunscreen.
ReplyDeleteI'm blessed with Mediterranean skin and a lot of extra pounds which plumps up the skin, making me largely wrinkle-free. I tell myself that if I lost weight, I'd look thin and old.
DeleteDear Elizabeth's knee, stop whatever you're doing right now and be pain free, strong and flexible. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteKnee metta.
DeleteOh, good friend of mine, I am going to say something to you today and I'd like to pass it on to you, because I believe what I say to be true. We're here for a good time. Not a long time (not a long time). So have a good time. The sun can't shine everyday. And the sun is shining' in this rainy city, and the sun is shining, oh isn't a pity? That every year has it's share of tears,every now and then it's gotta rain.
ReplyDeleteOK, I think that is actually a Trooper song...
Never mind.
I've said it before, but you crack me up.
DeleteExplain the big toe that crackles please.
ReplyDeleteOf course! I have an arthritic big toe -- just the one on my right foot, and when I bend it, it crackles like Rice Krispies. Horrible -- and the reason why I no longer wear ballet flats or other pretty shoes.
DeleteLaughter is my savior. Honestly.
ReplyDeleteFor some reason, I found that photo of the scientists, enthralled and entertained by images of Pluto, so uplifting. It told me: there are humans out there for whom such noble things matter, who are not self absorbed, materialistic, petty or arrogant like so many of the humans I have the misfortune to encounter every day. (other than my immediate family which is precious and magnificent.)
ReplyDeleteAnd, I'm with you on those chin hairs. To console myself while plucking them away, I remind myself of Germaine Greer's comment on the topic in a documentary about aging - something along the lines of: "These days, I can't survive without my tweezers!"
I felt the same way about the photo -- and struck also by how insignificant we are.
Delete