Parenthetically Speaking

Dream Car
Originally uploaded by kafkas_undies.

Part I.

I think I’ve found my calling. As in, life. I’ve found my life’s work – at last – the way a missionary finds his. Or hers. Mine is slightly less noble, though. Or slightly more. I’ve found that I am a natural in the field of unemployment. As a wise friend duly noted, I am far too busy – have far too many things on my plate – to be bothered with trifle inconveniences like work. This observation came from someone who knows a thing or two. And lest you entertain a thought to the contrary, let me clue you into something worth remembering. Words of wisdom, courtesy of the aforementioned source: Never buy batteries for your vibrator at the dollar store.

That’s as sound as advice has a right to be. The lord’s honest truth. Sound advice like that is hard to come by, so when you do, you better grab it and run. Fast. And while we’re on the subject of the lord, let me share with y’all the buzz word of the month: praise. As in salutation-cum-affirmation-cum-rhetorical goldmine. Praise. Are you with me?


Part II.

While walking down the sidewalk, with the Atlantic just beyond, I passed beneath a canopy of leaves – ash, I think – and I became so overwhelmed I cried. This is a thing called gratitude. Apparently, I was full of it. What a feeling to be driven to tears by the sheer beauty of simplicity, of breeze in your face and salt in your nose. To be overwhelmed by the splendor of it all, however ugly, intangible, or blind. It is to be open in the ultimate sense, not just to possibility, but to acceptance you heretofore thought impossible.

Parenthetically speaking, fill in the blanks yourself. And if you see an unfamiliar word, look it up. If you do it enough times or if you never do it at all, you too might find yourself walking down a city sidewalk – even if it is a provincial novelty of a city street – stepping lightly.

Enjoy the grandeur; the world's mysteries are infinite not only in every way you’d hope they would be, but also inconceivably huge in all the ways you failed to consider. You might find yourself so overwhelmed that you need to remind yourself what breathing is. And when you do, take a deep one, two, then smile and wipe your eyes.