Good old days
...Plus a poll of former professors
The first former professor of literature remembers part of something, but just a small part. He says, “A woman flung herself off a diving board backwards. As a backward dive, it was hugely unsuccessful, but as a piece of cool and courage, it was immense.” Then he trails off.
This post is not about learning how to remember. Or how to remember better. Or how to do anything better. You likely don’t need another to-do list to add to the hundreds of things on your to-do lists now. Do you have multiple lists?
How about multiple things you can’t remember and multiple things you can’t forget? Or multiple things you shouldn’t have said. Or multiple things you didn’t know, like the primary organ of female sexual pleasure wasn’t well described until yesterday, or tomorrow.
The former professor of pelvic medicine says, “The female body was not designed for a 60-second climactic sneeze. It was designed for waves of pleasure that saturate the tissues of the female pelvis.” The former writer thinks, but doesn’t say, “Too bad too few women know that, and even fewer knew that way back when, not to mention, too few men.”
Then the former writer thinks, “For centuries, too few things were written for people who lived in female bodies. And too few things were written by people who lived in female bodies.”
The former professor of pelvic medicine continues, “Women grow humans and deliver them. Their nervous systems run a continuous scan to keep their baby alive. Pre-birth and after.” Then she trails off.
The former writer thinks again of lists. Then she polls the former professors on things they wish they’d known sooner. The big winners were: *Stop waiting. *Spend the money. *Say I love you.
Add: *Sit up straight. This will help you not look like a pretzel. Be a lifeboat. Be a light. Be a ladder. If you’re cut out for it, perhaps be a leader.
Also: *Ask yourself this question: “Will this matter a year from now?” Ask yourself that question a lot. If the answer is no, chill.
Last, tell yourself this: *The good old days are now. We woke up today. That’s good. We’re old. That’s good. We’re grateful. That’s good, too. The former writer thinks she might add: Move slowly. This may help you see more poems.
P.S. If you can’t find someone for whom you feel grateful and something(s) for which you feel grateful, check your pulse.
Yes, I keep lists, multiple lists. My lists have lists. 😊
Just with all your excellent writing, I had to read it twice to fully savor. The female body is a miraculous mystery. My daughter just had a baby and I see in her that instinct, the constant “screening for danger” mechanism.
On the way home from the hospital, the baby safely in carseat, my daughter grew quiet and somber. When I asked if she was OK, she turned to me with eyes huge and said, “it’s my job to keep her safe now.”
I didn’t have the heart to tell her, darlin’, that feeling never goes away.
Thank you again for your marvelous miraculous writing! 💕
Here’s another goof for your list of goofy former professor’s goofs.
Today I showed up a week early at a restaurant for brunch with a former Phd student. This is second time I did that in two months—but a different former Phd student.
Is it a worrisome clinical indicator or merely a sign of enthusiasm?
It brought to mind a Mae West line which would be wasted on both former Phd students.
“Is that your hand in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?”
Run that by your professor of pelvic medicine.