Words That Flame In The Art Of Racing In The Rain
It has been a while since I did one of these “words that flame” posts because I have been in writing mode myself and don’t read much while in that space. But on a recent long airplane journey I did read Garth Stein’s The Art Of Racing In The Rain and marked passages that seem to speak to me–my words that flame.
A bit of explanation: the narrator is a golden retriever mix whose owner (Denny) drives race cars and is known for his ability to race in the rain. Race car driving is used in the book as a metaphor for living, particularly for living when it seems to be pouring and the track of life is slick.
Parrots And Pirates And Synchronous Events
“Temporally coincident occurrences of acausal events.” That barely comprehensible phrase is how Carl Jung once described what he called “synchronicity.” Fortunately, it isn’t all that hard to understand: improbable events happen that did not cause one another, and that seem connected in some way that appears to mean something that isn’t immediately obvious.
Here are three improbable events that seem connected and have happened to me recently.
First, I have been hanging out in and around the new Rio Salado Audubon Center in Phoenix, doing research for a book. I say it is improbable because, if you had told me three months ago that I would be doing that, I would have said something like, “Huh?”
The Parrot And The Gypsy Girl
The Scout called home yesterday afternoon and asked me to go to the mailbox to check for a package that was overdue. With phone in hand I went to the front door, opened it, and The Scout claims my next words were, “Holy s*#$@t! You are not going to believe what is on our doormat.” I’m not 100% certain that those were my exact words, but it does seem likely.
“What is it?,” she asked.
“A parrot.”
“A parrot?”
“Yes. A parrot. I’ll call you back.”
“Take a picture,” she said just before I hung up.
