Showing posts with label Franklin P. Jones. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Franklin P. Jones. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

In Medias Res

Honest criticism is hard to take, particularly from a relative, a friend, an acquaintance, or a stranger.
- Franklin P. Jones

I could be losing my mind. Sometimes, my life suddenly confuses me. I get this feeling like I have entered a theater after the first act is well underway; and I can’t quite catch up with the plot.

Standing by the coffee pot this morning, waiting for my coffee to brew, I looked out the window at the perfect spring day. I smelled fresh green growing things and coffee. I suddenly couldn’t remember what I was doing there or what I had been doing before. For that moment, I was just soaking in the present and that was enough.

But then, I realized it was probably just an attack of geeziness; a brief burst of static shorting out my short-term memory. Some mornings, I feel as dumb as a pink balloon before I have my coffee. I once invented the inflatable archery target in just such a mood. So it’s not all bad.

I have a good mental exercise to bring me back from the brink of stupidity, and I will share it with you now. I try to remember if my safe word is albatross or applesauce. Some things you can afford to forget. Others, you shouldn’t. By the time the coffee was drunk, I was back to my old self again. It’s albatross.