Alas, Poor Yorick! Looking for Infinite Jest & Imagination on a Tuesday Morning

The few Halloween directions that I have are now up. They will be illuminated at dusk and, if somewhat fortunate, will spook a few trick-or-treaters next week. Glamis will have to share her lounge sofa (the bay window) with a few skeletons until the goods are handed out).

When I was in high school, I used to sing in the shower, "It's just another, predictable Bryan day/ You can expect that nothing will go your way," a tune that I still have in my head from my Eeyore/Charlie Brown/Chicken Little days.

Later, as a teacher in Louisville who taught Greek and Shakespearean tragedy, I began singing,

"In the end, I'm gonna die,
 it doesn't matter, so just call me Bry.
 You go to work, you earn some pay,
 in the meantime, you might as well play."

Perhaps a little more upbeat and Wonka-whimsical, I learned to find a festive way to put humor, creativity, spirit, and spunk into the every day grind, just because if I thought about the routine too much, I would get sad.

I prefer to laugh.

That might be why this morning, while showering and singing these songs that popped back into my head, I pulled back the shower curtain and looked at this wonderful, whimsical body the Great Whatever provided me and had to laugh. Instantly, I envisioned my Grannie Annie in the bathroom taking pictures of me as she used to do with all of us as kids. I still don't know how she was allowed to come in and take post-shower, towel shots, but I found myself posing as a 46-year old, some 32 years later, as if she was in there with her camera and humor.

"I always thought the male body looks like a frog resting on a lily pad."

Thanks, Grandma.

Perhaps it is because my mother resurrected the butterfly/frog stories from Loch Lebanon or maybe it's because my baby sis is a year older tomorrow, but I was thinking about my skeletal self - the short time we have while we have it - and the stress of adult life.

I choose love, happiness, humor and wit. It wasn't always that way, but I am realizing that the opposite is hate, sorrow, seriousness, and stupidity. So, that helps me feel like I am winning some as I face the challenges of every day life.

And I'm still singing,

"It's just another typical Bryan day,
 but for now at least I have my say,
 go to work and try to earn my pay,
while it's here, I might as well just play."

Time to get to work.