Random Thoughts (Again)

Gulliver: When anyone mentions the classic story, "Gulliver's Travels", the image that comes to mind is almost always that of Gulliver spread-eagled on the ground, surrounded by Lilliputians and staked to dozens of ropes. I have no trouble being empathetic to his plight. Like Gulliver, I'm tied to the ground by many ropes and surrounded by many Lilliputians. Some of the ropes are called responsibility, attitude, compassion, love, and ownership, among others. Some are strong enough to anchor an ocean liner while others are as thin, and yet as sticky, as a spider's web. My Lilliputians are known as family, friends, bosses, church, school bus riders, tax clients, and just people I meet on the street. As you know from the story, Gulliver was able to break from the bounds of the Lilliputians and continue with his travels. I do not believe that is going to happen to me. Itch: I have come to the conclusion that one of the worst itches to have, if you can't scratch, is the desire to trade automobiles. Sleep: Sara tells me that she very seldom dreams (and she almost never gets up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom!) I wish I could say the same. I never lay down to sleep that I don't dream. I have taken naps that lasted no more than thirty minutes and had a dream or dreams. I don't really know when a dream ends and another begins. Some nights it seems like there are many dreams and other nights it seems that I have only one dream, but it has acts and scenes within it. My dreams are vivid and often violent. I've been known to attack Sara in my sleep, which quickly ended her sleep. I have been known to dive out of the bed, dreaming that I was fighting with someone, and ended up knocking over the nightstand and lamp (needless to say, this also woke Sara.) I never have peaceful dreams. If dying is akin to peaceful, dream free sleep, it may not be too hard to anticipate. Lenny: I have a new dog, an old yellow Lab. I rescued him and went for an older dog so that he and I would match each other's life style pace. Lenny loves to be hugged and scratched and I love to hug and scratch him. Lenny loves to eat and I love... well, at least I don't mind buying all that food and feeding him. Lenny loves to curl up on my feet in the evenings when I'm home and I love warm feet. Lenny loves to chase things thrown for him and, as long as he brings them back, I don't mind throwing them. So far, Lenny doesn't do steps and we don't know why. He doesn't act like his hips hurt, but in his foster home, he never saw the upstairs. We only have a couple of steps into the house and he does those okay, but I'm still trying to find a way to get him into the front seat of my pickup. I can't lift 93 pounds of dog no matter how much I want him to travel with me. Vultures: If you have read the Peanuts comic strip for any length of time, you have seen Snoopy perched on top of his dog house pretending to be a bird of prey. That's the image that comes to mind as I sit in my bus waiting for the middle school children to be released to go home. Our buses are parked side-by-side and the drivers are all seated peering over the steering wheel and hood. As the children are let out of school, we gobble them up like so many kernels of corn. When all bus vultures have feasted, we take flight and deposit them across the county as if they we just so many seeds passing through the vulture body. Maybe it is no wonder that I dream the dreams that I have.