The snow threw up on my satellite dish last night and again this morning; cold and heavy enough to stick like glue. The cat threw up on the stairs. Not one step but many as she continued up-chucking as she made her way down. She couldn’t wait until she hit the bottom? It’s inevitable, life will occasionally throw up on me too. It happened in Two Old Women, a story about being left behind by “The People” who were facing starvation and had to quickly move closer to more plentiful game. It was the women’s own fault AND “The People’s” for aiding them in becoming weak by tolerating their laziness and complaints. Facing certain death, they chose to pack up and move as well, suffering with constant fatigue, hunger, bodies that struggled to move, and bitterness. On their own they needed to recalled skills they hadn’t used in years, of catching, preserving, and storing food, of building shelters, and making clothes from animal skins. By the following winter, the women were well supplied, strong, and warm. They had succeeded through their own determination to direct their own fate. Don’t waste away, never give up, and don’t allow others to either.
A Widow's Walk 