Silly zen-like thoughts on Patience

Yesterday I was involved in a task that required extreme levels of patience. By about 4:00 in the afternoon, I was starting to get that burning feeling inside that told me my patience was running low. I new that I needed to be present and highly functioning in what I was doing for at least another 5 hours. I started having a panicky thought: What if I run out of patience? What if today is the day that I just totally run out of patience? I almost didn't want to let my self ask those questions I guess because I thought that meant the reality was closer than I wanted to believe. I had a really scary moment feeling like that if I actaully lost my patience something terrible and catastrophic would happen. It was like I felt like life would be totally different before and after that moment. But then I let myself really go through it in my head- I allowed myself to answer the question- What would happen if I lost my patience?

My answer to my my own question was surprisingly freeing. If I lost my patience, that is exactly what would happen- I would lose my patience. Life would go on. I would go on. No catastrophic event would follow. I would continue doing the exact task I had been doing. I don't know if this makes any sense, but I realized that patience isn't really anything other than patience, and that made the whole stress of the situation yesterday kind of humorous in a way. It didn't change the way I felt, which was on the broink of losing my patience, but at least I laughed while feeling that way. And I kept going.

"Let's Pick"

Last night I went to the Woodfin Community Center for "Live Bluegrass and Country Music." This event occurs every 2nd and 4th Saturday evening of the month. There is an old hand made stencilled faded falling over sign at the turn that reads: Let's Pick! Live Bluegrass and Country Music. Every 2nd and 4th Saturday at Woodfin CommCen. The music didn't get started until about 7:30, but people were gathering by 6:00. A group of men casually picked old country and bluegrass songs together outside while some women got the serving table together for a cover dish supper. They don't do the cover dish every time- just sometimes. People trickled in for an hour and a half, a lot of them bringing containers from KFC or Bojangles for the cover dish. Some people made homemade food such as deviled eggs; there was also a lot of pork and bean dishes. Anyways, at 7:30 the music started on the stage. Old Hank Williams style country music, country gospel, and bluegrass music. About 90% of the people there were old. People sang along and danced, and the ambience under the floursescent lights was casual. Most of the people seemed to know each other. A group called Alvin Wilson and the Happy Valley Boys picked some awesome bluegrass- they were 4 old men and one young man. God bless the young buck who picks banjo with those old boys. Their high voices were incredible harmonizing with each other. MMC5th and I marvelled at how high they sing, like women...

Anyways, my thought is, when I am old, will the people of my generation gather together on a regular basis to visit and share food, memories and music? What will be the nostalgic sound for people of my generation when we are hobbling around with walkers? Will we take the time to go to KFC and pick up a bucket of fried chicken? Will we have any traditions to preserve? Will we take the time to talk to youngsters and offer to teach them everything we know, as one man last night offered to MMC5th? I guess my best projection is that we will pine for dance music of the 80's- and that we will not look half as graceful as those old hillbillies waltzing to "In the Pines" as we will trying to rock out to "Karma Chameleon."

Seven Useful and Interesting Items of Information I Have Received this Week

1. Unicorn pops, while beautiful indeed, are tedious and challenging to eat.
informant: personal experience

2. Purple nail polish is being worn by all the young people these days (meaning women under 40). informant: my grandmother

3. Pepsid AC can help me with my indigestion. It either comes in powder or tablet form.
informant: my sister (via memory from television commercials)

4. My next door neighbor, the taxidermist, did NOT kill all of the bobcats in our cove last fall, even though he did kill 3 with his bow and arrows.
informant: the bobcat kitten I saw last night

5. Good clean fun is not a thing of the past.
informant: insinuation from life experience, plus the flyer I saw for a Beltane
"treasure hunt" party

6. Some kids are not lazy.
informant: Mountain Express article about a high school boy who makes bagpipes in
his free time

7. If I shave my head again, I will look like a boy or a dike.
informant: my very informative sister

Uh, Ma'am, you have a lollypop stick on your back...

One day a few years ago I was shopping at the local brew supply shop buying corks or something of the likes. I shopped for a good 15 to 20 minutes and was the only customer in the store at the time. After I paid and was turning to exit, the shop owner (no names will be mentioned), who is a rather unusual and quirky seeming man, said to me in an awkward tone, "Uh, ma'am.. you have a lolly pop stick on your back." I was kind of surprised because in all the years I have shopped there, that man never said anything personal to me whatsoever. "Oh," was my reply as I reached back between my shoulder blades to feel around my back.
"A little lower," he said, and I reached down to my lower back. "A little lower," he kept saying as I reached lower and lower, until I felt the stick on the lower part of my butt, like near where my butthole was. I burst out laughing and blurted out, "Did you mean- Ma'am you have a lollypop stick on your ass?!?" A sheepish glance and a shrug of the shoulders was the reply.

Well, the other day I was talking with friends RM and her dear, dear daughters (who were ever so patiently waiting in the car for their mother). For some reason I ended up telling them the "lollypop on the back" story, which elicted a few good chuckles from all 3 ladies, particularly from my young friend "B".

Two days later I got a phone message from "B" telling me she wanted to "chat about a lollypop stick." I couldn't stand the suspense so I called right back. As it turns out, the very next evening after I had told them the lollypop stick story, they had gone to get some pizza in Weaverville. As I understand the story, during the pizza dinner, "B" glanced out the window just in time to notice the full lunar eclipse, in the moment of full eclipse. The family was very excited. When "B" got up, guess what----that's right, she had a lollypop stick on her "back." Sanctified by the moon in full eclipse herself...

Mystery

Somtimes I set out to do one specific thing, and what I end up accomplishing is the opposite... I am humbled to realize how little I can control.