Stars are God’s spores whirling through space on the winds of dark energy. Half of them exist in pairs, as if they met in fertile galaxies across Creation and birthed their families of planets and extended families of moons. I love pondering the sky – especially on my nightly drives when the firmament is spangled with the impossible. Staggering stars of pure diamond or molten gold exist out there, antimatter abounds, incalculably huge suns spin hundreds of times a second and blink on and off, light is bent, impossibly dense objects – a teaspoon of which weighs as much as 200 ocean liners – are parked in the dark. All of this is ABSOLUTELY REAL on a scale that makes you wonder if Dr. Seuss didn’t overestimate Whoville after all. And what about thinking matter – organic life? Preposterous and egocentric to believe we are the sum of it.
Unless you have a thinking sense of the cosmos, you cannot know your own reality or grasp the wonder of your existence. You may as well be lost in a petri dish. Your reference points are simply local rules of a regional physics that seem to be written in the granite of morality but are really just conventions subject to revision in every time and place. They apply to the shifting needs of whatever people want. Some are good, some are not. You need to examine them for yourself. Escaping mindless servility is not anarchy but freedom to think and be yourself.For all its challenges, winter brings out the best in Minnesotans. I can only explain it as a result of people being forced out of routines. It’s good to be inconvenienced sometimes, to struggle a little physically. You come out healthier, a little proud to have survived, and, man, does it ever add to communications – are you all suffering cabin fever? My column on SU this month reflects the Q&A part of your welcome emails. Most of what you share is about human relations, but as always, I’ve chosen a broad range of questions from book stuff to the Olympics. Please know that I appreciate your candor and try to respond as honestly as I can. Some of what you write tears my heart out. You make me think enough about relationships each month to produce a book, and the education and perspectives you’re giving me are invaluable. My profound thanks for that. A poignant sample question from the March column:
Q [Middleton, WI]: I finally got up the nerve to write you my own painful history after what you said about sanctuaries and I’d like to know how you think that settles anything? For mostly practical reasons I stayed in a long-term loveless relationship at the same time I loved someone else. I still don’t know whether it was the right decision but feeling constantly divided took its toll.
A: If you still don’t know, then you made the right decision. Wouldn’t periodic regrets have become certainties by now if you chose wrong? And if your heart was in it enough to make it work, would a decision have been necessary in the first place? Sounds like you were in a dead heat (no pun intended). And if one man has your mind and another has the rest of you, alas, anatomical connections dictate that the heart stays with the corpus delecti (even if imprisoned behind the bars of a rib cage). I think sanctuaries only work for people who are trapped in appearances and truly have no way out; not for people who have split feelings. Love is usually self-proving. But there are circumstances where a sanctuary is the only way to escape a life of quiet desperation or to be who you really are.
You can read the whole column here: http://storytellersunplugged.com/thomassullivan/2014/03/15/thomas-sullivan-cabin-fever-questions/#respond
The photos below kick off with phantom blue takes at Elm Creek (#1-2), followed by cherished trailmates Claudia/Lisa/Sully in #3, and #4 is Lisa/Sully from a memorable ski day at Hyland. Both ladies are accomplished horse riders I first met on the trails at Crow-Hassan where I often hike, snowshoe or ski. #5 beaver breakfast; #6 yours truly sailing the Caribbean; #7 a fav ski forest in Heidi-ho (Idaho); #8 my chilluns, Colleen & Sean; and #9 Santa Daddy waiting for his fav rein-dear, Colleen. #10-11 is another cherished friend Mickey who is a genuine dog whisperer – doing her thing in the latter photo. We started off hiking but ended up dancing on the empty road in front of a place where I play sax in the summer. No music, but the sun was so inspiring that we just had to trip the light fantastic. It’s a rural Irish custom, don’tchaknow – road dancing. Look it up. #12 is just a beautiful sky near my house from last summer.
Memories are what you get when the sands run out and you turn the hourglass over. Whether it’s preserving an event, or a career, or the forever relationship in your life, savoring the highlights is essential to knowing who you are. In a world of routines and dead ends it’s too easy to lose track of our true selves. Celebrating the magic moments is like finding gold dust mixed in with the sand. March has a couple turns of the hourglass for me, indelible memories that obliterate every cynicism I ever had about whether there was a soulmate for me. May yours be as momentous and magical.
Thomas "Sully" Sullivan
You can see all my books in any format here on my webpage or follow me on Facebook: http://www.thomassullivanauthor.com
