Last night I nestled into my couch to turn on the TV to one of my favorite films, Like Water for Chocolate. Here is a moment that made me sit up and really listen. It is when Tita has gone crazy from the death of her nephew, and Doctor John Brown has taken her into his home to give her time and space to heal. He is working with some kind of experiment and says to Tita,
“In 1669, Brandt a chemist from Hamburg, while searching for the ‘Philosopher’s Stone,’ discovered phosphorous. My grandmother, Morning Star, she was a Kikapu indian, she used to say we are all born with a box of matches inside. We can’t light them by ourselves. Just like in this experiment we need oxygen and the help of a candle, except in our case the oxygen has to come, for example, from a lover’s breath. The candle can be anything: a melody, a word, a caress, a sound. Anything that pulls the trigger and sets off one of the matches. Every person has to discover what will pull his trigger to enable him to live. Because it the explsive flare of the match that fees our souls. If there’s nothing to trigger the explosion, our box of matches becomes damp, and then we’ll never be able to light any of them. There are many ways to dry a damp matchbox. You can rest assured there is a cure.”

I believe it is each of our jobs to discover what is the trigger that enables us to live, enables our match to light, and to connect with it daily.

And on another note, here is a quote from my dad that just makes me smile: “I knew a transsexual guy whose only ambition is to eat, drink, and be Mary.” – GC

Ah the joys of the polymind.