The 3-Way Conversation

Once upon:

1) a time

2) a fork in the road

3) a frozen river

I came across:

1) royalty

2) a traveler

3) an Olympic skater

Who told me:

1) "Kneel down."

2) "Which way?"

3) "Don't fall."

And I replied:

1) "Yes, sir," while whispering, "to tie my shoe."

2) "No road is without potholes, but..."

3) "With ice, there are no guarantees, except that you are bound to feel something while you are skating."

The person transformed in that instant to:

1) a butterfly

2) a dinosaur

3) a sparrow

4) a mermaid

5) a wizard

6) an hourglass

7) a prophetess

8) a house

And it was as:

1) beautiful/colorful

2) massive/powerful

3) small and spritely

4) lithe/graceful

5) mystical and tall

6) methodical and precise

7) knowing and farseeing

8) safe and sound

as I could possibly imagine it.

So, I:

1) drew it and colored it

2) studied it

3) housed it prettily and fed it

4) drove it to the ocean

5) learned its spells and magic

6) turned it over and watched the sand grains spill

7) asked the future

8) went inside.

And then I:

1) had 100 pages of it flying over a meadow with flowers

2) found 1,000 fossils of its descendants over a period of millions of years

3) had a whole park filled with bird houses of different shapes and sizes, bird condos, bird villages, and single-family bird homes, all filled with the nests of house sparrows snuggling up together to keep warm in the winter

4) got rescued five years later when I was drowning at Virginia Beach

5) cast a spell to revive my energy when I got weak - but then I could not do without it, and had no idea how it might affect my heart

6) had to keep turning it every hour and got 500 steps by walking back and forth to it, thus preventing me from spending too much of my workday sitting

7) found out that the future is unknowable but that the immediate future is plannable

8) Got warm and cozy.

Then my friends asked me, what was the point of this butterfly, dinosaur, bird, magic time mess? They asked me what it gave me, and I said:

1) each of my butterfly drawings is your Christmas present, and I have 100 friends, so I made 100 drawings.

2) History is how we know ourselves. Feathers and skin and scales have the same origin. Mammals came from what was once a dinosaur. Dinosaurs cared for their young, and some were herbivores. They were not all massive. Life is not all the same, and categories we make do not necessarily describe reality but limit it. That's where education comes in.

3) My park is full of birdhouses that you gave me. You were glad to have me help put the houses up. I was glad to have your help choosing and buying them. And we can all enjoy the park.

4) We underestimate the danger of water. Teenagers can be too afraid of looking weak in front of their friends, and not afraid enough of the ocean. Mermaids are the rescuer in the minds of those who might otherwise take unwise risks.

5) Magical benefits don't come without a price. I have to be careful with Red Bull even if I don't want to.

6) Because I have an hourglass, I plan my day and I don't waste it. I like to walk to get to mine, but you don't have to.

7) Found that the difference between over-planning and planning just enough is that when you're planning just enough, you don't feel defeated when you get down to the nitty-gritty - you just feel stronger. You know the prediction is accurate enough that planning in the short term is not a waste of time. I didn't find the true benefit of long-term planning, but maybe you did, and you can show me?

8) Got inside and kept my house clean. Got the dust out and put in some warm orange rugs. Replaced the coffee table. Made an omelet for breakfast. Washed the dishes. Told my domestic partner that eating at home was what I wanted.

My friends took this knowledge as their present, and they gave me:

1) a pear in a pear tree

2) two turtles in an aquarium

3) three French lessons

4) four phone calls

5) five golden fries

6) six table-clothes lying flat

7) seven soap bars swimming in the bathtub

8) eight apartment cleanings by Maids-R-Us

9) nine dance lessons

10) ten plyometrics classes

11) eleven concerts featuring pipe-organs

12) twelve treatments for a wax-free eardrum.

And I told them their presents were:

1) beautiful/colorful

2) massive/powerful

3) small and spritely

4) lithe/graceful

5) mystical and tall

6) methodical and precise

7) knowing and farseeing

8) safe and sound

as

1) a butterfly

2) a dinosaur

3) a sparrow

4) a mermaid

5) a wizard

6) an hourglass

7) a prophetess

8) a house

And as they said, "Why thank you, it was nothing," I assured them that:

1) "Yes, sir," while whispering, "you're the tops."

2) "No road is without potholes, but our friendship is only real because of the bumps."

3) "With our friendship, you are bound to feel something."

And then I said:

1) "Kneel down. Will you marry me?"

2) "Let's go do something. Which way?"

3) "Don't fall. I don't want to ever lose you."

And I said, you are like:

1) royalty - the good kind, not the arrogant kind.

2) a traveler - the one who leaves to learn about the world, not because of being unwanted; or the one who leaves because of being unwanted yet is wanted by me and wants me.

3) an Olympic skater, who pushes herself every day to be powerful while seeming small.

In a tale told once upon:

1) a time

2) a fork in the road

3) a frozen river.