Ok, I’ve got a few things for you.

1) I heard the funniest thing today: So there was this guy (it’s good already, isn’t it) sitting on a bench (see previous post). And this guy was not moving. He was just sitting there, doing nothing, just sitting. Not even moving. So some people were on vacation and walked by the guy on their way to the beach in the morning and then walked back past the guy on their way back to the condo and then walked past the guy again on their way to dinner. Finally on the way back from dinner the woman couldn’t stand it anymore and stopped to ask the guy what was up; are you ok?

So she says:” Sir, you’ve been sitting here all day. We’ve walked past you several times today and you haven’t moved. Are you ok? Can we do anything for you?”

And the guy says:”Ma’am, I am a firm beliver in reincarnation and I have lived many lives before this one. As well, I have worked very hard in my lives.”

So the woman says:”And so you are meditating or breathing in the karma/dogma/qui of the world?”

The man:”No. It’s just come to this. . .I have decided to sit this one out.”

Ok, maybe you had to be there but, I found it very amusing!

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So working has it’s ups and downs. For example, currently it is 4 in the morning. No, I am not working but I am awake. I have taken to falling asleep around 9:30 at night.

Now, in theory that would be a good thing, except if either of the children wakes me up, say around 3 in the morning, the chances of getting back to sleep are slim. Very slim.

But there are good things to working (3 full days a week). I get a welcome reprieve from my children’s very insistent voices (which I’m sure no one else can understand) and I actually get to listen to grown up music. No more Veggie Tales for me. It’s the BBC, NPR and INXS all the way!

Anyway, I’ve got a quote for you.

“I’ve always loved benches. They’re the image of a withdrawl, the seat of a contemplative distance, a peacful marginality at the edge of the world. They represent a privileged observation point, a disengagement off the beaten path for those who know how to pause there. I’ve spent many an hour on benches taking stock of the world. Some of them are marvelous, unexpected, outlandish, and each site is a revelation. Someone sitting on a bench is detached from reality, or no longer belongs to it. This simply seat confers upon the sitter the status of poet, and lends a certain breadth of vision. If ther is one place that ought to lie beyond the bounds of torment, it is the bench.”

That is from a book called Happy Days by Laurent Graff. I can’t really recommend it as I didn’t love the whole book, but that quote transported me when I read it.

I have the beginnings of a garden in my yard and I can fully and clearly imagine the experience of coming upon a bench placed just for contemplation and observation;a bench set neatly apart. Now our yard is tiny but I can design a space that is “off the beaten path” and self-contained in its purpose.

I like the concept of a bench being a sort of off-ramp for general exsistence. My life can be like a whirlwind. Yours too, I’m sure.

In these next months I have to navigate through some sucking waters and I am going to need benches along the way in order to reorient myself. I think that in the whirlwind of the last 2 years or so I never once sat down.