I Leap for Lizards

*Stay with me. I’ll try to make it worth your while.
Another three miles this morning gave me time to think, as usual. I chose to run in a clockwise direction. It felt like the right thing to do this morning, as if my chi needed aligning. I noticed some of the regulars along the way. There are some beautiful people who frequent Memorial Park on early Saturday mornings. It’s a feast for the eyes.

This was a rough week. I celebrated graduation with my son and daughter last weekend and came home to an empty apartment. It was absolutely anticlimactic. I did my best to remain positive but I felt my spirits flagging and I hit bottom when I received word that my friend, Deb, died early in the week. Deb’s words were in front of me over and over again, “Live life today. Don’t wait. Don’t leave your life unfinished.” I have unfinished business. I must address it. I spent the week doing so.

Electronic communication was my friend this week. I was too raw to do much face-fo-face. I didn’t have the personal bandwidth. There were emails and texts. I’ve also included simple neuro-firings. Sometimes my synapses are most helpful when they stop short of triggering my mouth. The thoughts are enough; I don’t need to voice them. You can decipher which are my thoughts, which are my words and which were life preservers thrown to me.

*Ms. Scofield, please arrange…
*WTF? Who does he think he’s talking to?
*I’d be happy to. Glad I can help.
*I’ll miss you this week. It makes me happy when you crack yourself up.
*Michelle you are my heart.
*Dinner? Dancing?
*8pm Canyon Café! Fabulous!
*We just wanted to hear your voice.
*You are a strong woman. I love that about you.

So yeah, I almost forgot. Lizards. When I went back to college, I was working in the lab as the Natural Science Departmental Scholar. That’s fancy for: Does All The Dirty Work And Gets A Break On Tuition. I was responsible for feeding the animals including the mealworms (fed them paper towels) and the legless lizard (fed him mealworms). One day I noticed the damned lizard was missing. I reported it to my supervisor who happened not only to be my Chemistry professor but also my neighbor. We figured some of the dorm kids had stolen the little beastie. I didn’t give it much more thought.

Fast forward about three weeks. I was pouring petri plates. I had about sixty of them spread along a lab bench and was pouring agar one by one. I walked to the end of the table and a movement in the doorway caught my eye. There was the lizard. He was “standing” in the doorway, watching me. “Holy shit!!!” I landed on top of the bench, scattering petri dishes and agar all over the lab. The clatter brought my chemistry prof running into the room. He got a pretty big chuckle out of finding me on top of the furniture.

What brought back this memory? As I was running this morning a lizard scurried across my path and I essentially flew about six feet as I morphed into Jackie Joyner-Kersee. Again, “Holy Shit!” I cracked myself up. It’s hard to leap, run and laugh at the same time. Sucks to be this depressed. I guess I’ll just be happy instead.