Amalgamation

Last night I went running and found a wooded trail. That's not hard to do here - stumble upon some patch of forest, that is. Bellingham supposedly has more parks per capita than any other city in the U.S. (they say...and we don't argue with them). It was lovely. I felt like I was practicing something that illustrates the quintessentials of who I am and how I came to be.

That is, a perfect amalgamation of both my mother and father - I was listening to folksy music on my phone (I won't say folk music exactly because that would be inaccurate, and if Professor R. heard me say it about this particular music he would have to correct me. The music is modern, written by Natalie Merchant, with a folk style to it. The lyrics are not folk, they are very old poems - literature. Quite different. Anyways...)...uhh...oh yeah, so the folksy music, that's my mom's side of the family. Folktales, folksongs, sitting around the hearth with a bunch of instruments and song...bliss. I hope to experience it for real someday soon.

Then, as I was running, I thought I might try out the video camera option on my phone and share with the facebook world how awesome it is to randomly stumble upon woods while running. I saw the yellow light of the setting sun piercing through the trees, burning fierce underneath the clouds. With my camera in hand I went running along and whispered a shout into the microphone, "IT'S THE ALIENS! THEY'RE HERE! TRUST NO ONE!" That, you see, would be my dad.

In fact, a lot of what I came to do in Washington, though it is supposed to be centered on the general theme of what I experienced in childhood, has simply been a lot of "stuff my dad would have done or would be doing if he was here." Like running through the woods with a camera screaming about aliens. And laughing a lot.

The truth is out there...