In between

I have never been an easy traveler. I have never "rushed" well. I do not "rush well" in particular, these days. How is it possible to lose a walker? Let me tell you.

Still in preparation

For the trip.

I am not

An easy traveler.

I left my walker

In women’s T-shirts

At Target,

Had to ask an employee

To find it for me.

He did.

I left my walker

In the parking lot.

We drove back

To find it.

We did,

In the lost

And found.

We listened

To comedy sketches

On the radio

To and from,

Wrote our own sketches

In between.

I am not

An easy traveler.

It helps to laugh

In between.

Clearance

Getting ready. No, we have not packed yet. Yes, we are getting ready to pack.

In the morning

I clear my brain

By writing.

It surprises me

What has been left

Overnight.

Just as

It surprises me

What leftovers remain

In the refrigerator.

Oh

I did not remember

We had that

For dinner

Three days ago.

Time

To get with

The clearance

Before we leave

For the trip.

Yes

That is recyclable.

Yes

That is trash.

Yes

Those are cats

Who need

The loveys only we

Can give.

Particulars

So many more things to plan these days. Back then it was just me. Back then so many things did not occur to me. My father told me he could get anywhere in the world in 24 hours. Now I wonder what good 24 hours would have done. 

All the particulars

Of such a trip.

I did this

Much more easily

When I was 19,

Took the Orient Express

From Paris

To Athens,

By myself,

With a train compartment

Of Germans.

We spoke in sign language.

We pointed.

We shared water

And oranges.

Oh I did this

Much more easily

Then.

I did not know

To panic

When my passport

Was confiscated

As we entered

Yugoslavia.

I did not know to breathe

A sigh of relief

When the passport

Was returned.

I know

So much more

Now.

I know

So much less

Now.

More preparation...check

Norway in a Nutshell...fyords and mountains and trains and buses and boats...

Sump pumps...check

Turtle…check

Cats…check

Compression socks…check

Dry cleaning…check

Oslo via Stockholm…check

Still more to do

Glad we don’t leave

Until Tuesday night.

Amazing this is only

A two week trip.

I will miss

Being home

But glad to travel

See my daughter

And friends.

Order

Ah...new beginnings. It is vital to keep beginning, then beginning again, even if it means getting up at 7:30.

She comes

Every other Friday

Makes us get up

At 7:30.

It would not be

Our preference

But this is what fits

In her schedule.

I make the coffee

Write the check

Make sure

The recycling

Is in the bin.

My beloved makes sure

The car is moved.

We both make sure

We are dressed.

She comes

Every other Friday

Makes us get up

At 7:30.

She creates order

Out of chaos

A place

To begin again.

The house smells good

When she

Is gone.

We begin

Again.

Kosher

We got seats with more leg room this time around. We did not fuss with the menus. I am excited and apprehensive. The turtle is boarding with our son. We have hired someone to care for the cats.

Are you excited?

Are you apprehensive?

Do you know

What you are?

I know the trip

Will be better

Than the last one,

Squished in the back row

With seats

That did not lean back,

With meals

That were all

Unappealing

Except for possibly

The vegetarian option.

I ordered kosher.

I understood kosher

Was always better.

The flight attendant

Was confused

At this cross-wearing person

Who did not care

If she opened the cover

Of the meal.

In the end

The kosher meal

Was still

Airline food.

Am I excited?

Am I apprehensive?

Do I know

What I am?

I will be

What I am

No less

No more

No kosher meal.

Sparrows

I have to look up sparrows every time I see them, every time I hear them. 

I know sparrows

Can tell one

From another.

We are the ones

That think of them

As plain

Brown

With maybe

One distinctive

Marking.

They are anything but

Plain

One sparrow

Knows another.

I have to look them up

When I see them,

When I hear them.

Someone has decided

What determines

White-throated

White-crowned

Song.

They have

No such terms

Each sparrow knows

Its own kind.

Pomegranate seeds

For Laurie Michaels, with whom I share a throne, with whom we share thrones with so many others.

I majored

In Classics.

I did not think

Of Persephone

Except the six pomegranate seeds

She ate

In the Underworld.

They made her Queen

Of Hades.

What of the six seeds

She ate

In the world above.

Surely she had a throne

There.

Here.

There.

Here.

The crown moved

From the Underworld

To the Overworld

Until it all became

One world

Really

If we look

If we notice

Where the throne is

Today.

Men's socks

Ah, the suppositions we all make. Ah, the kin we find...when we're looking

The salesman

In the wheelchair

Wanted to direct me

To women’s socks.

I told him men’s socks

Would do the trick

With my braces.

Women’s socks are too thin.

He nodded

Knowingly.

On the way out the door

The salesman

Wished us a good day.

My beloved told me

The salesman

Wore braces too.

I find kin

Everywhere

Some in hidden braces,

Some with walkers,

Some in wheelchairs.

The man in front of us

In church today

Cannot chew.

I am grateful
I can.

Some will stay

Therapy is interactive. Sometimes people stay. Sometimes they don't.

When people

Come to me

 I ask

What they would like

To focus upon.

It is different

For every single person.

No matter

What my training is.

Where does it hurt?

What brings you here?

We’ll start there.

Maybe we’ll move on.

Maybe we won’t.

Some will stay.

Some won’t.

I never know.

Garage

We are taking this...one project at a time.

In search of

Someone to stare

Into the garage

No judgment

No extra words

Submit a quotation

For most of it

To go.

That

Will be gift

Number one.

Blog spam

I wondered where it went.

Suddenly

My own blog posts

Disappeared

From my inbox.

Someone in Google land

Decided my writing

Was spam.

I only appreciated Spam

When I went camping

As a Girl Scout

And then

Only fried

Over a campfire.

I retrieved the writing ,

Claimed it back

Into my inbox.

Life in computer land

Is more complex

Than I knew.

Cat person

We meet the person who will potentially take care of the cats while we are gone. Juneau will meet him lovingly. Calli will most likely hide. She looks like a different animal since her "groom" or "kind of groom." We have never had a cat who needs grooming before. She was part of a litter of "woods kittens." Now she looks like a shorn sheep.

We meet the cat person

This evening.

The older cat

Will love him.

He loves everyone.

The younger cat

Will most likely hide

Upstairs.

She takes forever

To warm up

To anyone.

Her groomer

Clipped the mats

From her fur.

She now looks

Like a partially shorn

Sheep.

She would not sit still

For the whole groom.

We meet the cat person

This evening.

He will meet

One cat.

The sheep cat

May never appear.

The roof

Odd the things we worry about. We take care of the things we can. The rest we leave to nature. Of course this does not mean we don't worry about nature. 

We will travel.

A neighbor will watch

The house

To ensure

It does not

Burn down.

The cats

Will spend time

At the vet’s.

The turtle

Will be

With our son.

We pray for no rain

Like the rain

We have had

The last three days.

Oddly

We pray for the roof.

We pray the house

Will be here

When we return.

No fire.

No water.

We know

The living things

Are cared for.

But the house

The house!

The roof!

Oddly the roof.

Not even the basement.

But the roof.