Morning Open Thread is a daily, copyrighted post from a host of editors and guest writers. We support our community, invite and share ideas, and encourage thoughtful, respectful dialogue in an open forum.
I’ve come to think of this post as one where you come for the music and stay for the conversation—so feel free to drop a note. The diarist gets to sleep in if she so desires and can show up long after the post is published. So you know, it's a feature, not a bug.
Join us, please.
Prefatory Note: As you might have figured out, Joy of Fishes is taking a break. We can all use a hiatus now and again (I’ve done it as well); so for the foreseeable future we will have fill-in posts from me. Which brings me to reaching out for anyone interested in hosting a Morning Open Thread. We have Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays available.
If you’re interested, just drop me a kosmail.
So. Well, okay. It’s complicated. Then again, my whole life is complicated so why not last night?
My love and I watched a movie yesterday—The Squid and the Whale. After a week of her presence (her playing with the dogs, teasing my son and making him fall in love with her all over again, of laughing and watching me grill green-onion sausage and pork chops, doing wash and borrowing the car, photographing moss touching the hyacinth covering the bayous of Pointe-aux-Chien, and keeping me up late into the night expounding on the virtues of fire glass in art) she caught a plane two days ago to resume her life in the lane some call fast, but I call souless.
Anyway, she suggested the movie (I suspect) to get my mind off her leaving or whatever and~okay, I’ll give her this one~she was right. Even though she was a couple thousand miles away by then, she asked me to watch a movie with her, knowing I’m a horrible moviegoer. I don’t like them and don’t get ‘em: find them mostly too pat, too short, too whatever. But I did it because…,well, because I probably like her more than I’ll admit under normal circumstances. Like I said, it’s complicated, and the last thing she needs is me in her life. But 43 years is a long time to bury when it comes to love.
But where was I? Oh, yeah, the movie.
There’s a song that plays a central part in the film: "Hey You.” In the call we had when it was over, I mistakenly said “Led Zeppelin” (I’m a fucking idiot, I know) and she correctly me, gently and lovingly. “Pink Floyd,” she said. "Not Led Zeppelin.”
And that. Yeah, that one correction is why this morning is one of longing and reflection. There’s something about a woman who can make your child starry-eyed, seduce your dogs, make you mistake Pink Floyd for Led Zeppelin, and make you wake up wondering if life without her is a life worth living.
Spoiler: it isn’t.
‡
☕️
Grab your coffee or tea and join us, please.
What's on your mind this morning?