I Know Things!

"Put me down!  I've taken Tae Kwon Do!  I KNOW things!" - My son's girlfriend, all 5 feet 1 inch of her in my kitchen tonight, just after he picked her up and slung her over his 6'3" shoulder.

Day 347.  Nothing like a visit from a couple of college sophomores to restore my perspective.  These two are spectacular.  Like several other couples I know, it appears as though they survived the ravages of 2010.  There must have been exceedingly poor planetary alignment for romance last year.  Gassho to all couples who weathered the challenge and emerged triumphantly in 2011.  Me and my partner just may join their ranks (but that's another blog!)

The sophomores graciously asked me to see a movie with them this evening.  We saw a most excellent flick, "The King's Speech."  It was extraordinarily well acted.  There was a moment in which I was, surprisingly, almost moved to tears.  It occurred during a scene in which a newsreel depicted Hitler addressing thousands of his troops as they all saluted him, shouting, "Heil, Hitler!"

I was sitting next to my son's girlfriend, who has a rather unique ethnic heritage.  Her mother is Jewish; her father is, interestingly, German and Japanese.  I have seen numerous historical news clips of Hitler over the years, but tonight the images provoked an entirely novel reaction.  From deep within me, something fundamentally primal, raw, and emotive stirred.  I was engrossed in the movie plot at the time, and didn't attach much cerebral interpretation to the feeling.  Reflecting upon it now, it seems that a primordial sense of maternal protectiveness and love flooded my gut as I sat by that lovely young woman watching Hitler entice his army.  I was reminded that passion flows most fiercely in the presence of personal connection.

Passion is, indeed, flowing fiercely between these two young lovers.  Watching my manchild tease and flirt and strut every molecule of his testosterone infused masculinity in the presence of this dark-haired beauty fills me with an emotion I can barely speak of.  Love, pride, tenderness, poignancy, nostalgia (I remember my own 20-year-old lover -- we sailed to Catalina together on a 16-foot sailboat!) and a primitive, mother tiger ferociousness.  I would take a bullet for these two.  I would lay down my body on tracks vibrating with an oncoming train.  I would be a Force to Be Reckoned With should anyone or anything threaten them with harm.

Attachment?  Better believe it!  Preference for a certain version of their future?  Probably, but it is combined with a healthy respect for the Rule of Reality.  Savage and primitive urges to protect?  Absolutely.  Funny thing, though.  I have a hunch these two are pretty good at protecting each other.  They are resplendent with Buddha Nature.  He, with Scottish tenacity and aspirations to become a new version of the American Suit.  She, with an astounding ancestral blend of courage, survival instinct, and original pluckiness.  Astonishingly, both of them with Big Mind and even bigger Senses of Humor.  Because, really, how many five foot tall girls out there reference their third grade martial arts class while hanging off the back of their gigantic football player boyfriend?  I believe her.  She truly DOES know things.

Gassho,
CycleBuddhaDoc