beginnings

8" x  10"

it amazes me how we all start out essentially the same, but could end up so different.  watching the city swarm with people really emphasizes that fact.  we all begin as babies, and well, we're just so vulnerable, subject to the influences of human civilization at its best--and worst.  and because every situation is so completely unique, every human shall be as well.  i am baffled by the notion that a child who grows up in a nurturing family environment could just as easily end up some kind of derelict adult as could the child of a drug addict.  and that is just the beginning!  with parenthood as open-ended as it is, it is flabbergasting to think of how many people muster up the true courage to rear a child.   a miracle it is.

i leave the city tomorrow, and head back to my home in the fields.  i spent today wading down the swift grey sandy river with chris, working on my sunstroke, losing and finding flipflops all over the place.   it was a relief to think that in spite of all the sweltering concrete and city slickers, a shady refuge full of tiny fish and slimy rocks was only twenty minutes away.  even when i go to the city deliberately, and for that experience, these days i feel much more at ease to find myself in the quiet of nature.  and i can't help but worry about all these folks, running wild, masquerading with their beverages and their accessories; as far as i can tell, living like horses with blinders on:  do they know what a full moon feels like?  i hope so.