"May you build a ladder to the stars, and climb on every rung..." - B. Dylan

The Dumps/Sunny dichotomy...it's kind of like a yin/yang, dark/light, Jeckyl/Hyde opposition, that runs through my ancestral line... Supposedly my greatgrandfather Smooth (Jimmy) Connors used to say: "wake up jimmydumps, drink the first cup of coffee - sunnyjimmy!"

Sometimes the coffee doesn't work. I know there's a whole pharmacological industry dedicated to that proposition, concocting potent chemical cocktails in order to erase "dumps" and activate "sunny." I'm unwilling to escape via that particular avenue.

So, instead, I soldier on. Events both personal and universal have consipired to bring out "dumps," and I figure that just goes with the territory. Yesterday this thought struck me: the highs seem less high, the lows seem deeper and more resonant. I hope it's not a trend.

Sometimes life seems to be one damn disaster after another...somehow we are meant to endure...If you live with "eyes wide open," if you are alive and open to the moment, does this make you more vulnerable to all the "pricks and kicks?" If the choice is to harden our hearts, or to embrace the world with sympathy and tea, I'll go with the latter, and be on the lookout for a "ladder to the stars."