It was a simple moment that got tangled up in the complex goo of my over analysis. So, I guess long is relative in those terms. I've been noticing that social media is stealing our memories. I don't want to go into how there are ways it helps our memories. Because, in this moment, the absolute, irrefutable, and eternal truth is that social media steals our memories. I'll let you know if that changes. But social media does and has always been a theft of our thoughts. At least I am pretty sure it has been. I think it has. Hell, I can't remember. But whatever!
It's as if there are two of me. I don't want to go into how there are so many more of me. Hell, there's really only one me. But, it gets churned up in this Zeno's hellethon of time in, of time out, now/then, then thinking of now, now remembering then... But whatever!
Which is which? The me of any moment is the me viewing the memory of the moment I was just in. So, God (The Cosmos) grants me the magic mind power to snatch that arrow from the air and pluck it out of my whole damn story. Fuck Zeno! I mean, it's a great thing to ponder. It's a good exercise. But whatever!
My wife and I take a long walk every day. We pass this guy who has tractors and equipment in his yard. He waves. I wave back. He's off, up in his yard. Sometimes Meg doesn't see him. She keeps telling me she needs glasses. I mean, maybe... But also, we just see different things. In this particular point of the walk, she doesn't see him, usually. But she did see him the time he was driving and nearly ran me over because I was walking backwards up the hill, talking to her. I actually really appreciate that about us. It's like our skill sets capture different parts of the world and we fill in each others' blanks... sometimes. I guess it's dangerous to think about your and your wife's blanks. We likely don't agree on which blanks we each have and don't have. And there are lots of ways to read a sentence like, "My wife's blanks..." She has nice blanks by the way. Anyway, that's a bunch of nonsense for sure. It doesn't have much to do with the actual story. But the actual story is actually so short it isn't a story. But whatever.
Anyway, so today he waves and says, "Hello."
I throw up my hand and say, "How you?" Just like that... How...you... Not how are you. Not how you doing. But "How you?"
I'm wearing this straw hat my daughter gave me. It's painted on the top. I'm carrying my walking stick. I look like some old man of the woods or something, and I say, "How you?" What the hell is that? It got me thinking. My thought? What the hell is that? How you? I mean... was I somehow trying to out country the dude? He may have a degree from Yale, or who knows what. And I'm out there throwing out my best Alabama, "How you!" I could have said anything else in greeting. Hello, hi, howdy, hey, or even expanded it to, "Beautiful day, isn't it."
There are two of me. One likes to sit and have fun with the other. I play games with me, sort of. I look back at Memory Me and Moment Me gets a chuckle, has questions, sometimes complaints. It's weird. Moment Me becomes Memory Me in a quantum, fuzzy sort of time passage. They have to be a good mile or so away from each other to exist. And something will stick in one of those minds, and I will think about it as one of those characters for way longer than is likely warranted. But hey, whatever.
No comments:
Post a Comment