It's a pretty self-explanatory little passage. Dillard is knee-deep in the stuff of the world. She goes on for pages with her discussion of grasshoppers and locusts. Their origins and habits. Biblical and scientific references. Basically, Dillard gives us a lesson in everything grasshoppery.
Speaking of being knee-deep in the world, I wish to speak tonight about being knee-deep in the world. As Desi Arnaz used to say, "Let me 'splain,'" I'm working on trying to get my kitchen ceiling and bathroom fixed up. My attic needs to be emptied and finished so my daughter can have a room to herself. Tomorrow, I have to go car shopping. And, in the middle of all this, I have to work and get my online class ready to roll. I'm knee-deep and sinking fast right now.
My life seems to go this way often. For a while, the world is all rainbows and lollipops (or at least pizza and wine coolers). And then, a bump. At the moment, that bump is my car. The initial bump starts the downhill slide. Bills come due. People get sick. Bad news arrives. Pretty soon, it feels like I'm careening down the Matterhorn like Clark Griswold on a sled. I just have to hold on for the ride and hope that I don't end up with a closed head injury.
Of course, I'm not giving up hope. Things always work out. Somehow. I simply get a little tired of moving from one crisis to another in my life. I stamp out one fire, and the wind picks up. Pretty soon, I'm surrounded by tiny blazes. (Are you getting tired of my disaster metaphors yet?)
I know that I am blessed. I have jobs. Health. Family. Food. Friends. A modicum of writing talent. Yadda, yadda, yadda. Thank you, God, for my blessings. In the meantime, I'm still trying to figure what's at the bottom of the mountain I'm sliding down. A lake? A cliff? A granite wall?
Saint Marty forgot to put on his bike helmet.
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