"Poopsie," I said, "I'm surrendering to Life and intend to live life on life's terms, as the saying goes. I'm convinced it's the only way to win freedom from the limitations of the past and my only chance to be reborn through the transformative power of Rumi."
Gene Jirlds Copyright 2000 - 2024
"What are you talking about, if anything," she said, "and why are you talking so fast? Have you relapsed? Are you into the fairy dust?"
"Wonder!" I said. Or perhaps exclaimed is a better word. "I'm shocked that you'd think such a thing. I am as clean and sober as damn it. I happen to be a little more sane, if anything. As for talking fast, you'd talk fast too if you were as excited as I am. I am finally free of the tyranny of desire."
"I'm guessing that you're referring to the Buddha's argument that desire is the root of all suffering. I suppose there is truth in it as long as one considers the qualifiers."
A short period of silence followed her words while she waited for my response and tried to come up with one. It wasn't easy on short notice after that crack she made about the Buddha.
"Why do you think that giving up your dreams will make you happy?" she said after waiting a polite moment for my response that never came.
"You speak of dreams," I said, "but what if they're actually illusions? And who needs dreams anyway? I have my memories of once having it all and I shall always treasure them. In the mid-eighties, I was the rock star of systems design at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston."
Thinking of those days as I spoke to her momentarily took me to a happy place. "Those were the days, Poopsie," I said.
"And so now, you plan to give up the chance of becoming a rock star once again and instead, you will eat pine needles for the first time in your life."
"What did you say, Wonder? Eat pine needles?"
Well, correct me if I'm wrong," she said, "but it sounds as though you intend to give up, right? You're going to surrender to whatever life brings your way. That sounds very much like quitting to me."
"Eat pine needles," I said and I mused as I said it. It was a shocking idea for someone like me who has lived a full life under the flag of I Shall Not Eat Them.
"That's the gist of it, isn't it?" I said. "But tell me, what can I do when a vast conspiracy continues to thwart my best efforts? A conspiracy that involves the complex coordination of multiple interacting agents."
"Have you considered simply following your bliss and forgetting about the outcome?"
"Are you suggesting something along the lines of damn the torpedoes; full speed ahead?
"That's exactly what I'm suggesting. To quote Beignet Lafayette when wearing his magic sunglasses, Let's do it!"
"Do you really think it's possible?" I said.
"I'm certain of it," she said. "I believe in you, even when you doubt, and I believe, as someone once said, It's never too late for now!
"I love that!" I said. "It's never too late! Possibly one of Shakespeare's gags."
And with that, I was down the stairs and out the door but I heard her exclaim, ere I drove out of sight...
"Fierce Qigong, Genome!"