Wheel of Fortune

January 10, 2021

Believe XII


It is a sunny, cold (for Florida) Sunday morning. I have come, bundled against the cold, to the retention pond. It is early and there is a gaggle of birds about. There is a flotilla of Muscovy ducks, two moor hens, an anhinga, a solitary egret, and a random squirrel. I work in an adult dementia day stay. I am 69 years old and a few of the members are close in age to me. We boomers are aging and the vicissitudes of age are catching up with us. I feel we are all comrades in arms against the dying of our light.

I have brought dried, organic seaweed as a peace offering to my mermaid Sybylla as I have not come to visit for months.

I sense her ripple in the pond, place the wakeme at the edge. She senses my melancholy and sadness. She accepts the seaweed and in her chilling raspy voice, she sounds an answer to my unasked question of how to live in a world with such unutterable sadness.

"Look for beauty," she rasps, "always."

I turn to leave and vow to follow her command.


Oracle of the Essences--Cilantro--Discard what doesn't serve you.