Bebes, Gods, Goddesses, And Deep Thoughts

Today was pretty swell, actually. I pulled up my biggest girl panties and called my doctor's office to find out what their new protocol is for getting blood drawn before an exam. In the last few months, my doctor has changed the group he is in and whereas I used to go to one building to get all sorts of labs and scans and x-rays, I am going to have to go to different places. In some ways this will be good in that it could sometimes take hours and hours, waiting to get my blood drawn, but now I'll be making an appointment at a lab for a specific time. I'll worry about the rest later. But just making that phone call was enough to chill my bones. 

Mr. Moon was getting ready to leave to go fishing as I was running around here trying to get things done before I left for town to pick up August and Levon, and so we were running into each other as he packed things up and I was doing laundry and things like that. We carried on a conversation, room by room as we encountered each other, both hurrying to get on our separate journeys. Some kissing may have been involved. 

I got to the school on time, parked, and walked to the parent pick-up place. You carry tags with you that have the child or children's names on them that you are picking up and you show those to a door monitor who then calls the child. All of the kids are waiting there, sitting in groups on the floor and before I could catch the monitor's attention with my tags, I saw Levon and he saw me and I could tell that he wanted to jump up and run to me but he knows the drill and he waited until he was called.
Both boys gave me very sweet hugs when they came out of the building and both began to tell me stories from school and both wanted to know if I'd brought a treat and if so, what was it, was it NUTELLA, and could we watch videos of a gorilla fighting a lion and so forth and so on. I had gotten them animal crackers which I figured would not make much of a mess before the violin teacher got there but they were vaguely disappointed I think. Sometime I should get them Nutella to dip their animal crackers in. That would make them happy. 

When we pulled back into their driveway, I said, "Well, mission accomplished!" and August said, "What do you mean?" and I said, "Well, I got to your school on time, picked you up, drove you safely home and here we are." 
"Why wouldn't you have?" asked August. 
Oh, the blessed innocent belief in adults that children have.

I really liked the violin teacher. She was adorable. I hear she has a classical background but she certainly was not stuffy at all. She told August she loved his toenail polish and she wanted to know my name, both the one that most people call me and my grandmother name. I asked if I could watch just a little bit of the lesson and she and August both said that was fine and so I did. Just a very few minutes. 

When it was over, she said August did great and that she'd given him a sticker but she had more stickers that she liked to okay with the parents or some adult family member before giving them to the kids and I, without thinking, said, "Well, unless they have Trump's name on them, they're probably fine," and then I thought, "Shit, Mary, what is wrong with you?"
But she showed them to me and they were like heavy metal music stickers with all sorts of different goth-y sorts of themes and I said that was okay and then she showed them to August who said, "Heavy metal! I love heavy metal!" and she was happy to find a little fellow metalhead.

So speaking of things I probably should not have said, the other day I saw my Trump and DeSantis signs neighbor and we chatted for a few minutes about how we'd fared the hurricane and of course she had to tell me that it was due to the LORD that they'd survived and I said, without thinking, "Well, you should have asked the Lord not to send the storm in the first place," which was so fucking rude. I mean, really. But Gee Dee. Why is okay for religious people to be shoving that shit down our throats all the time and for us heathens not to point out the obvious fallacies of their thinking?  She said something about how it wasn't the Lord that sent the storm but his winds and rain, and come on- it's not like the wind and rain have a mind of their own which can take precedence over god's love for his people and wanting them to be safe and not killed by falling trees or flooding. That argument sort of works if you're talking about humans having free will and causing war or choosing to murder, but a hurricane? 
It did serve to end the conversation in a timely fashion. 

Speaking of rain, it poured down hard as I was driving home with great forks of lightening flashing in the skies. I took it slow and drove the backroads which I normally do anyway and was fine. It's stopped now and it is mercifully cooler. 

Thank you, Chac Mool! (Mayan rain god.)

That's the image of Chac at Chichen Itza in the Yucatan and although it's hard to tell, he's holding a shallow bowl which, in ceremonies dedicated to him, held a beating human heart. 

Now there's a god with not one molecule of wishy-washiness. You didn't get enough rain? You didn't give me enough hearts! You got too much rain in a hurricane? Talk to U K'ux Kaj, aka Huracan. 

Now see- this makes sense. Or at least as much sense as any other religion. 

I love what Richard Dawkins said which was, "We are all atheists about most of the gods that societies have ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further." I wish he had mentioned goddesses but he did not. 

Sigh. 
Damn patriarchy. 

And here we are, hurtling through space on this tiny beautiful planet in this tiny solar system always questioning/believing/curious/hopeful/despondent/courageous/fearful/hungry/loving/despising/perfect/imperfect with our big brains (compared to what?) always and constantly trying to figure it out. 

Who knows what it all means? 

Not me, baby. That's for sure. 

Love...Ms. Moon