Day: January 27, 2005

Of Purple Rabbits

By / January 27, 2005 / 3 Comments

I chased a purple rabbit through a hole in my backyard hedge this morning.  It was an odd experience because my backyard has never before had a hedge and usually the only signs of wildlife are deposits left by the neighbor’s dog.  Yet this morning both the rabbit and the hedge were there.

Beyond the hedge was a world filled with fairies, unicorns, centaurs, children lost on islands, and a secret valley full of bird-winged people.  The very landscape was strange; lush valleys sat high atop volcanos, and a river ran with liquid rubies.  It was completely unearthly … and totally familiar.  I used to live in such places before my mind filled with grades and SATs and mortgages and diapers and laundry.

I’d come home to a place I thought no longer existed.  All the strange and beautiful residents of those lands looked at me.  Eyes of every shade and shape studied me; asked me where I have been; wondered why I had abandoned them.

The answers I have to give are solid, reasonable.  They sit heavy in my hands, and their very solidity fades the worlds and people, who attenuate so far that the merest whisper of wind could blow them away.  Quickly I shift my solid reasons to one hand and reach out with the other to grasp at the mist.  I realize now that I need both.  I need to be able to fly on the wings of story and I need a solid place to land.  I’d forgotten, but as he did so long ago for my six-year-old self, that purple rabbit has led me through the hedge and taught me to fly.

 

Today is Lewis Carrol’s birthday, so many people are journaling Down the Rabbit Hole.  I wanted to join the fun.  The story above makes more sense if you know that the very first story I ever wrote was entitled “The Purple Rabbit”.

Happy Birthday to Me!

By / January 27, 2005 / 10 Comments

This year I had my birthday pretty much planned before the end of December. I was going to have a small dessert and maybe one gift and we would do the singing and candles and all would be happy. A couple of weeks ago Howard and schlock fans significantly changed that plan. Over the last two weeks we’ve been getting almost daily packages. Howard won’t let me open them, he’s been hoarding them away in his office and Kiki has been wrapping them. It got to the point where another package would arrive and Kiki would happily groan “Another present!” and run off to wrap it.

So I made a new plan. I planned that today would pass fairly normally and then after dinner we’d have dessert and candles, then we’d take the pile of presents and I’d have the kids help me unwrap them all. That plan is still in effect except the “today would pass normally” part. This morning I found a present in my email box. Rowyn made 6 pictures for me to use as LJ icons. Then to ensure that I was able to utilize them all she gave me a paid Livejournal account. It is one of those wonderful gifts that I didn’t even know I wanted, but I’m incredibly happy to have. Now I need to write appropriate journal entries so that I can use all of them. Thank you Rowyn!

Also a big “Thank you!” to everyone out there who sent me presents. I don’t even know who you all are yet because Howard won’t let me look at the names until present time.