the amount of times I've counted on my hand.

My food will soon be in the oven, and I will use the timer to time both its readiness and my headiness, for my feeling is that this post could meander and go nowhere, but with a set limit of time in the back of my mind, perhaps I will cut through and focus in on something that takes me somewhere, connecting.

Within limitation, I think one knows they can travel most succinct. Baby steps taken in one direction can get you the furthest. Less wandering, more pondering between steps for a sure-fire foot forward.

I have a picture in my head. Its more than an image, its flush and filled out with foreground and background. Lots of faded green of prints of yesteryear, a checkered tie, red and white rayon against a white shirt hedged in by the navy blazer. Its a double-breasted blazer, and its magnificent. Its my own, my true blazer and I'm made ready and done up for a date. My hair is slicked back and my eyes are watery from too much flash as this was the best and last of many photo attempts. My upper lip has a discoloration for its been my first time shaving. I am soon off to the prom!

A late bloomer, I'm undeterred that its not my own prom, that I'm a chaperone to my niece, that I'm just turning 48 and only now beginning to grown in whiskers that need shaving to preserve my youthful look. I've come to terms that I'm a little different, a little weird, a little wild.

Of course, and as brought up in the first paragraph, this mental picture is in looking back. And its been 20 years since that time and place. I was slimmer back then, a little more weird, a little more wild. Now, I get tired easily. I have my own share of crops to gather and fields to reseed. I love tulips but in this frightening post-2038 future, the tulips are more rare than ever.

Oh? What happened in 2038 to warrant the marker of "post-2038"? Nothing in the grand scheme of things, nothing at the level of world-shaking. But in my own personal life, 2038 was when I got it.

It. I got it then. It was delicious.

Oh! Also 2037 was the year of the Dutch drought, and the poor tulips didn't fare so well. I'm sure, though, if I were to write this in 2040, that within the two year period all the tulips would be back and flourishing. Science has its way of melding with the heart's intent.

And also the heart itself; I have a pacemaker at this point in my life. Not for medical reasons, but in this scary, post-2027 future, people opt for pacemakers that some say are controlled by the government.

Yup. But people say crazy shit all the time. I just got mine put in because I had not yet purchased a new smart-heart-phone the previous decade, and lo and behold! my contract with Verizon was up and with the discount perks get affordable. Its amazing what we as a people can do in this amazing post-2019 cyber world.

2019? 2027? Just years, don't worry about them till they come up.

And get you.

I'll never forget though, the actually ver tumultuous years between 2015-2017, leading up to the feelings of relief and redemption found in 2019 and subsequently in 2027. "Pie-fights," you say? "What a wicked metaphor!" I reply.

I can count on my hand the amount of times I've counted on my hand the amount of times I've counted on my hand.