Exchanges

Tonight, I went to a potluck/gathering/party. I was talking to a Peruvian woman, whose child played limbo with other children in the living room. She asked me, "How old are you?" For kicks, I asked, "How old do you think I am?" She replied, "mid-twenties, 24 or 25." "Close, I'm 26." 

"I can tell you are young. You still have a light in your eyes."

"I do? You mean it will go away? Does it always go away?"

"Yes, it goes away."

"But, you still have a light in your eyes." I said.

"No, no. I only have it sometimes when I'm with the kids. You have that light still, where every thing is new." She replied.

"You're right about that, there is so much that is new to me." I know that light that's she's talking about. I know I've lost it sometimes in my life. I also know that light doesn't go away just because you reach a certain age. I know ancient people who still have it. It doesn't have to go away. Its a mindset thing and a life style thing. It made me very happy to know that someone commented on the light in my eyes. 

Child.

Later, at the same party, I was talking to my new swedish friend, Otto, whom I met through couchsurfing. We were talking about how we like to be around people, but we also need space to recharge. And we were talking about what kind of people we did and didn't like to be around. I said, "At least there are some guys here this time for you to talk to." The previous times we'd met, he had hung out with me and my friends, who happened to be all girls those times.

"No, its okay really. I'm used to being in groups with women. If there's at least one woman in a group of men, they'll be okay. Otherwise they don't show their emotions. And I do. They want to appear tough. I don't."

"Is it the same way in the U.S. as Sweden do you think? So far?" (He's only been in the states 3 weeks). I wanted to know his opinion.

"Yes, so far, I think yes."

"Well, that's great you already figured that out and that you are so comfortable with yourself." To myself, I was thinking, he is so unself-conscious. It is my goal to be more like that. Then I added, "I think men can become less tough, maybe as they become older. I mean, my dad is not like that."

"Yes," Otto agreed. "As we become more comfortable with ourselves."

Wise child.

What is something nearly everyone has tried, but hardly anyone know what it tastes like?

David Sedaris spoke for an hour at Collected Works, a book store in down town Santa Fe, on Thursday, free. I listened. I think everyone felt highly entertained. He is fantastically funny. And thought-provoking. Ordinary and mundane to extra-ordinary. There you go.

The theme of this book tour, he said, is breast milk. He's been collecting and retelling the stories people come up and share with him. It occurred to me (when he first embarked on this subject) that breast milk is a substance that nearly everyone has tried, but hardly anyone knows how it tastes. Strange huh? 

As he kept telling stories, I realized more people than I thought did know what it tastes like, including David Sedaris himself who obliged a fan when she brought him a glass.

What surprised me more than trying breast milk, was the audience's reaction to the stories of women putting it in their coffee or the their pancakes. Upon hearing about trying breast milk, so much of the audience portrayed looks of disgust, wrinkled noses, murmurs of Ew and shaking of heads. I didn't expect this in Santa Fe. 

How is it that we drink cow milk and dairy queen soft serve (and corn syrup) and we think breast milk is gross? When our children drink it and we drank it? Its not any more natural to drink cow or goat milk. We are the only species that drink milk as adults - besides pigs who will consume nearly anything.