Concentration

Jen, over at Sunday Undies, was writing recently about the fact that expiry date (the way Brits say "expiration date") is so much better, because there are entirely too many words that end in "-ation" in the english language, and that cutting down on just one is something we should all get behind. This made me think of a game that I used to play when I was a kid, called "Concentration." The object of the game was to pick a random category (like "colors") and then one person would say a color ("red!") and the next person would have to say that color plus one more ("red!" "amber!") and the next person would say both of those in order plus one more ("red!" "amber!" "turquoise!") and on and on. Your basic memory game. The way that this game would commence, however, was for all the players to hold hands, and swing them back and forth, and say (in that sing-songy voice that is reserved for jump rope games and patty-cake-style hand-clappy-rhymey games) "Concentration! Iddy-Oddy-Ation! Pick a color! Any combination!"

Iddy-Oddy-Ation? What the Jordan Knight is Iddy-Oddy-Ation? The phrase sounds uncomfortabley related to the word "idiotic," does it not? Perhaps a state of idiocy that is grander than idiotic would be iddy-oddy-ation? Or maybe it's like, where you live if you are idiotic. "That dude was so dumb, his address is located in iddy-oddy-ation!" Just think, I could do a re-make of Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation with this. "People of the world unite, strength in numbers we can get it wrong, each time! We are a part of the iddy-oddy-ation!" What do you think? No?

I am feeling like I am the mayor of iddy-oddy-ation these days. My dad's sick in maybe a scary way, and I love my pops like all get out--I mean he is the greatest pops, ya'll, no contest--so the worry is making me lose my brain cells a little bit. I feel distracted, like I start to do something and then can't quite remember what it is that I'm doing. That kind of stuff.

This post is not to boo-hoo about my dear dad, but to tell you that, as I walk around in my own private iddy-oddy-ation lately, dropping things and saying "pardon me?" a lot, I know I am lucky because I gots peeps, and my peeps are the type who go the extra mile and who love me to bits, and take care of me when I'm all jacked up. The morning my dad went to the hospital, Biology Girl called me up and managed, somehow, to get me laughing so hard that we just had to hang up, she was just being too damn funny. Nordic Boy has been cooking me dinners and inventing new dances (my favorite was the "taco rumba" last night) to make me laugh, and wiping away at my leaky face when things get a little too much around here. My mom, even in the midst of this stupid week, has funny anecdotes about hanging out in the hospital, and as I listen to her on the phone, I see right where I get my penchant for telling funny anecdotes, and it's comforting to me somehow, if a bit absurd.

So, living in my little bubble of love, as I do every day, I realize that I depend on these people to get me through whatever bumpy bullshiz is coming down, and I don't really look outside of this little circle for much comfort. Most people are nice when they hear what's new in my world right now, and say supportive things, and are kind. But that extra mile, the act of reaching out beyond just a kind word (I'm not at all knocking getting a kind word, don't get me wrong)- I'm just saying I don't really expect that from people I work with, or friends I hang out with every once in a while, or friends that I may even consider close but that I don't really talk to about the Big Things in life.

Imagine my surprise when one of these friends--one that I know through work and consider close but haven't shared any of my rocky times with--showed up at my library today, with gifts of hugs and homemade chocolate cupcakes, and talked to me for fifteen minutes about the whole mess. She just showed up. Did something extra. Just 'cause. And it pulled me out of iddy-oddy-ation, just for a few minutes, just when I wasn't expecting it. That rocked my socks.

Next time you're thinking of doing something like that, you should totally do it. Make someone's bubble of love a little bigger. I don't care if that last sentence sounds cheesy. Just do it. Ok?

Kiss the rings, I'm out.
Librarian Girl