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Back to Issue 3 - Fall/Spring 2013

A Cure for What Ails Me
Kate Carruth

It is much easier to 'climb' down Mt. Fuji than up. Going up, it's trudge, trudge, trudge, stop, trudge, trudge, trudge, stop, trudge, trudge, trudge, stop, sleep, get up inhumanly early, trudge, trudge, look. Down goes like this, (start with a stance akin to skiing), give yourself a push and slide to the bottom. There are not stops and no bathrooms; don't sit down because lava will wear through your toughest jeans in no time at all -- and then start on your skin. Likewise, wear protective type footgear for the same reason. Now, you have seen the sunrise from Mt. Fuji and it is time to clean up. Japanese bath houses are the perfect end to this day.

Eating and drinking with friends on the patio is all very well until somebody steps on a glass. And the glass breaks. And there really is an awful lot of blood gushing around down there. Somebody says to wash it, somebody says doctor, somebody says stitches. Prior to stitches, there is that sharp shock called a painkiller which doesn't and isn't and will-you-please-stop-that! Limping around for a week, dreading what will be involved with removing the stitches and hoping it doesn't involve painkiller. I wonder what pain-birther would be like? May I go home now?

Did you know that coral will wear through solid leather shoes in less than six months when walking to school on it? Now you do. Do you know what happens to feet when they are not wearing leather shoes on that same path? It's not pretty and called gon green because it has. Eew!

There is a reason why people say 'No running by the pool.' Not paying attention to this rule can result in having to sit on a pillow whenever you absolutely have to sit. Standing up is its own reward. It doesn't hurt . . . as much.

You know all those things your mother told you not to do because you would be sorry later on? Later on is not tomorrow, or next week, or even next year. It's when you've forgotten what you did and you will be sorry. I am. I'm getting sorrier by the minute, but one thing will cheer you right up - it beats the alternative all hollow.

Life is not a bowl of cherries nor is it the pits; it's flowers and trees, grass and birds, the argument you should have apologized for but didn't, the guy who cut you off in traffic and you dropped to new lows in language and then realize that you had slowed down in front of him inadvertantly. It's the smile someone gave you when you were feeling pretty, it's the everyday stuff your significant other does for you and you don't always say thank you but then you do stuff for them.

You make an effort to improve life around you, then you gripe because it isn't going right. Life is ups and downs, highs and lows, sun and rain and it wouldn't be life without all its facets. Hey, can I have that soapbox? I may need it again in the future.