Day 87

If of all thy mortal goods thou art bereft
And two loaves to thee alone are left
Sell, one, and with the dole
Buy hyacinths to feed thy soul.

Molly and I ran 2.41 miles (3.87km) in about 30 minutes today, I had a creaky neck and stiff ankles when I began, but everything loosens up after the first km, the arms swing out and back, the feet flex and point, as I propel myself forward in the common running gait of homo sapiens. 

Molly is definitely getting old, even running behind me now is a bit much for her legs, although she is gallant enough and obviously loosens up as I do, but her left front leg in particular is becoming quite arthritic.  There were robins flying up from the meadow-grass into the tall trees and scolding us for trespassing today.  It was warmer, 39F (3.8C)

I met a couple yesterday who are completely tattooed, their entire torsos, with very colourful tattoos, and they were talking about taking their little boy to his swimming lessons at the Y, the parent/child swimming lessons where you actually get into the water with the child.  How people stare at them and feel sorry for their son.  I am intrigued by body-painting, and body-jewelry, but these can all be taken off, can be changed.  But to tattoo your body so radically like that is so permanent, something that lasts for the rest of your possibly very long life. I think I would get so tired of it.  And as your body becomes wrinkled and old, the pictures would change and wither too.

Thinking of the girl with the cats for eyebrows, I was imagining if everyone had animal tattoos on their brows instead of eyebrows, how amazing we would all look.  How we would influence one another, and it could be a rite of passage when children came of age, like a bar mitzvah.  Your spirit animal forever indelibly marked on your face.  So here is my image for today - my spirit animal, of course, an elephant. 

Just think, every time you looked in the mirror the most prominent thing you would see would be your spirit animal, you wouldn't worry about your big nose or your small mouth or your low hairline, your animal would comfort you in its familiarity, it would bind you to the other inhabitants of this earth.