For Jim

She was in her hundredth year

Too soon, too soon

She’d had a long life

I wasn’t ready, I wasn’t ready

Too soon, too abrupt

One hundred years is not abrupt

I felt that she would live forever

Foolish, very foolish

I had planned to be there, to take her hand, to whisper the definitive words, the final words, to let her go.

I had thought about a perfect leave taking.

That was for you, you wanted to let go before she did

There is no perfect leave taking, no denouement that would be enough.

It’s all about enough, isn’t it?

The body chooses it’s own enough.

The body chooses it’s own birth, it’s own death.

And we finally have to acquiese.

Our mind must follow.

Our wishes, desires, our life must follow.

The body chooses.

Enough.

My Inner Fish

I just finished watching an engaging program tracing the development from fish to us. My sister Jane posted it on Facebook. It’s fairly old but it reminded me that I had taken Jane to her first geology class with me when she was a freshman in high school. I love geology as does she. This passion for nature, for understanding, for just looking at our world with intelligence and wonder and joy really is part of our DNA.

It’s so odd that so many folks right now are anti-science and think that science undermines our belief in god, but really it just reinforces for me the wonder and magic of our universe no matter who created it.