E. E. Cummings

My Prayer at 11:08 PM on a Friday Night

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

“I thank God for most this
amazing
day; for the leaping greenly
spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky;
and for everything
which is natural, which is
infinite, which is yes” (e. e. cummings)

On this Friday, I give thanks for the following:

  1. Fridays, which have never gotten old, even when I was unemployed. I can’t remember when Friday didn’t make me extremely happy.
  2. Another overcast Autumn day to remind me of why I love fall.
  3. An oversized mug of hot chocolate from The Well to remind me of why I love hot chocolate. Or anything at all from The Well. Or just hanging out at The Well in general.
  4. Geriatric cats that still curl up in my lap and fall asleep there (well, just the one geriatric cat named Lucy who would probably kill me in my sleep if she ever found out that I referred to her as geriatric).
  5. Doctor Who (particularly the episodes with David Tennant and Billie Piper). I’m late to the party, but I’m now officially a fan. And I still at some point would like to watch all the existing episodes, starting at the very beginning. Put that on my bucket list.
  6. Netflix on my iPad, which is way cooler than the portable TV I used to tote around back in the day when I thought I was the cat’s pajamas (again, don’t tell my cat Lucy I said that).
  7. A comfortable bed at the end of a long day.
  8. Not having to set the alarm for 5 am for tomorrow morning.
  9. God’s grace at the end of the day and God’s new mercies for the beginning of the next new day.

So what did we learn today? Gratitude still pays dividends. That and it’s a really good thing my cat Lucy doesn’t read my blog posts.

 

Bearded Brawny Men and Other Ridiculousness

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

paul-bunyan

Apparently, beards are in. I see guys wearing beards, growing beards, basically reveling in facial hair. I’m not so sure I’m a fan of it.

I don’t say that because my own facial hair is scanty. It takes me forever to grow anything close to resembling a beard, but I’m okay with that. I’m really not bitter about being beardless.

I just think it’s one thing to grow a beard and another to go for the Paul Bunyan look. I mean, what’s up with all the long scraggly beards? Is there a cult out there looking for another David Koresh?

I heard someone say that she was looking for bearded and burly in her men. I guess the blue ox and the red plaid shirt are optional. Hopefully the axe isn’t a requirement.

All that to say this. You be you. Don’t do something because everyone else is doing it. Don’t grow a beard because it’s suddenly fashionable. Life is way too short to live it for the sake of pleasing others.

If you really and truly want to grow a beard down to your knees, don’t listen to me. You go for it and you grow it. If you want to be clean-shaven, you do that.

I’ve been around long enough to know that these trends never stay very long. The more trendy you are today, the more likely it will be that your children will one day look at photos of you and laugh and say things like, “You actually went out in public dressed like that?”

So once again, you be you. Be yourself. In the words of one E. E. Cummings, “To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best day and night to make you like everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight and never stop fighting.”

Don’t ever stop fighting to be you. Ever.