Walking through the park I found a baby squirrel that had fallen from a tree. It wasn’t moving; it wasn’t breathing, but it looked so alive still. I picked it up, nestled into the palm of my hand. It was so small, warm & passed on.
I didn’t know what to do with him. I was over a mile from home, no shovel, not even a Kleenex to wrap him in, so I stood there stroking his little head, feeling awful. Zephyr sniffed & sniffed, not sure what to make of it.
Finally, I curled him into the crook of a tree. He was so tiny, so delicate. Zephyr kept going back to sniff at him & even turning back once we had walked away. I wonder what he was thinking, food or confusion? Death is complicated, even for animals.
RIP little squirrel.
d.
Just put this pair of Stacy Adams men’s shoes (11.5) on the corner of 24st & 2nd ave. There’s a booboo on the bottom, but still, they’re Stacy Adams. If you run they’re yours. ;-) #sacramento
When I was a kid my mom would yell, “time for bed! Go brush your teeth & wash your face. I’ll be in to tuck you in in a minute,” and I’d automatically go do it.
Sometimes, I really wish I had someone to tell me to do that still. Maybe, even a bedtime story. ;-)
The vintage thrifting gods just poured it on today. It was like fishing in a barrel. :-)Tell me this is not the greatest late 60’s find EVER. Dig the orange socks.
p.s. It actually says “LOVE” on the necklace.
dahlila :-)
I’m declaring this “Dahlila’s Birthday Credit Extension Program.” I’m sharing the love.
1. Make a cake for your kids, husband, girlfriend, neighbor, dog, just because. Waiting around once a year to have cake, blow out candles & share just isn’t enough. Mine is pink.
2. Treat yourself to a gift—pedicure, lunch out, matinee, long walk, whatever rocks your boat & you never do. Do it. It’s my birthday; I said you could. If you need a note I’ll fax it over.
3. Share: Give someone something & wrap it with a bow. Mail yourself a card.
4. Balloons, bubbles, tiaras, pinatas, pink party dresses—or blue, orange, yellow, etc. Glitter, gold, streamers. Decorate. Why the hell not?
5. Most importantly tell someone you love them just because. Hug them, kiss them, rock their world. It’s a celebration. If they’re confused, show them the list. If you are alone, look in the mirror. That person needs love more than anyone. Give them everything. <3
Happy Birthday Extension Everyone. Enjoy!
When my father was around my age he turned his birthdays into “un-days.” So in essense he “undid” a year, got a year younger. We were glared at should we use the word birthday. Unday, was the only day dad was having.
I’m beginning to wonder if it’s a family tradition I should uphold. Unday, folks. 9 days away… sigh.
After a long river walk—swimming, chasing squirrels, darting through the bushes, charging up and down the beach, Zephyr is down for the count. Not bad for 11.
d. :-)
Thrift store parking lot:
Stringy long haired dude, 50+, old black POW t-shirt, jeans, biker boots on exercise bicycle…
talking to woman in floral house coat, slippers, puffing a cigarette.
He takes a few spins, stops, reaches for her cigarette. He takes a long drag. She sticks her name on a sold sticker. Buys it.
Mini trip to the foothills always reveals the strangest encounters:
1. Raley’s: Elderly man, 70+, trim, red cutoff t-shirt reveling buff muscles, wearing Elvis toupe, complete with mutton chops.
2. Dapper elderly woman, trim in black & white houndstooth fedora, floral neck scarf, fitted jacket, skirt, heels, enormous 80’s glasses.
I thought these two needed to meet, desperately. Kept hoping they would clink shopping carts, then to my utter happiness, I discovered they were together. *crazylove.*
I rarely get mail, the real, paper and envelope kind with a stamp that comes via the postman. It’s almost unheard of anymore, so I was thrilled to see a creamy envelope personally addressed to me in today’s mail.
The name was unfamiliar which made it that much more interesting. I like puzzles, and therefore spent a while with it in my pocket simply wondering who it could be from and why. I figured it out fairly quickly.
While thrift shopping a while back I found a copy of someone’s birth certificate in an old suitcase (I find all kinds of goods people leave behind in suits, cases, coat pockets. It’s fascinating, really). I didn’t buy the suitcase, but felt I needed to keep the birth certificate, try and return it to it’s owner. Their address was on an attached plane ticket. It seemed the best place to send it.
So, today’s small envelope with my name scrawled in an unfamiliar pen, was a thank you note from ”The Smith Family”, or the mom of, surely.
It seems to me people don’t write thank you notes anymore, a simplistic nicety that takes time and thought and detail. The words are basic enough. One isn’t writing a dissertation, thesis, or cover letter. All that needs to be relayed is: thank you, thank you for your kindness. That’s it. In this note Mrs. Smith added “I will look forward to an opportunity to ‘pay-forward’ this one!”
I thought this was a bonus, and made her the kind of person I was all the more grateful to have returned the birth certificate to. She was the kind of person my mother would like, a woman who understands the small, but very important, civilities that seem to be drifting away.
I felt like writing her back, a “thank you for your thank-you-card”, but that would be ridiculous and possibly crossing a line of propriety, another word you don’t hear much anymore. These notions creep into my psyche from time to time as I was raised by a mother who insisted, no matter how loudly I whined as a child that I HAD to write thank you cards even though it felt torturous at the time. Today, I am grateful for this.
So, thank you Mrs. Smith for your thank you card, your acknowledgement of a consideration that didn’t need one, but it is truly appreciated non-the-less.
let it go—the
smashed word broken
open vow or
the oath cracked length
wise—let it go it
was sworn to
go
let them go—the
truthful liars and
the false fair friends
and the boths and
the neithers—you must let them go they
were born
to go
let all go—the
big small middling
tall bigger really
the biggest and all
things—let all go
dear
so comes love.
e.e. cummings
