The Animal Way

everybody is all a-flutter this morning. (except for Dad—he’s always just kind of swimming along.)

that must be it.

 my parents raised me to be a Lobsterbird.

my mother, lover of birds and flowers and that of the Earth. her energy, while always big, comes in huge bursts (the kind needed to take off into flight). and she is low flier. she flutters around, always busy, always doing…something…

i always thought i was so much my mother’s child.

…and i am. there are so many ways in which we are similar.

but as i grow older, i find myself connecting with my father more. i find myself doing things in the way that he does—slowly, quietly, spending many obscenely long hours deep in thought. my father goes with the flow. he is easy going, open to adventure, he loves travel and the earthly pleasures of this world—the two of us can rival each other in eating quantities that would make most people sick. and by the way, i just realized he’s a Pisces.

he’s a water sign. again, i will say that i don’t hold too much stock in astrology, but i was thinking about him the other day and how he is so much like a fish and then it dawned on me that he is one. he also grew up a block away from the beach—a life full of swimming, clamming, and soaking up the ocean air.

and as an intellectual (which he is, despite the fact that he doesn’t think he’s smart because he dropped out of college), he is able to take in a vast amount of information. his favorite topics are History, Politics, Science, and Nature. he likes riddles, games, puzzles, and has an inquisitive curiosity about him that, no matter how old he is, makes him appear boyish and perhaps even naïve. but he contains a wealth of information inside himself (i believe that he needs to find an outlet for it) and it is his fish-like nature that allows him to let it wash over him and then move on with the tide.

my mom just ran by in a flurry. i believe i was just instructed to water her plants and fill our water pitcher with the hose (their water filter is broken so we have to get it from the tap outside—i think it’s fun, like how she used to have to walk to get water when she lived in Korea.) she is flapping around in anticipation of my sister, Alicia, who is joining us this afternoon.

i just remembered their astrological signs—Sumi is a Scorpio and my dad is a Pisces. hm, if we combine their signs, that creature would oddly resemble a Lobster. Alicia is a Cancer…and well, my Chinese Zodiac is the Cock.

it’s silly but it does make one think…

does this happen to everyone when they go home? or am i just weird and think too much?

• finding old things
• retracing steps walked numerous times before
• at various stages of life
• feeling young energy or whatever energy you feel

how do you feel when you go home?

• Revisiting the Past
• Ghosts of Our Selves
• Relics of Our Time
• Our History Rediscovered

what animal(s) do you resonate with?