Re:OLD RIP and personal myth

[Guest guest]

Dear Fire Friends,

Mr. Mutt wrote yesterday............

From: Mrmailmut@...

<<Many here have heard of my experience at the young age of two involving a

reptile known as the Horned Toad, or lizard>>

I have not heard of your experience yet seem to be identifying with you here,

Mr. Mutt.............

In 1947 my grandfather died, leaving his farm, to my father: 240 acres of

apple orchards, bordered by a swampy area and an huge old n

farmhouse. We moved from the large city of Cleveland OH to Hudson, OH when I

was just 2 years of age. I enjoyed more than anything the freedom to run and

play. Most precocious, I must also admit. At age 3, I remember very clearly

stooping down to pick up an apple that had fallen to the ground. This

" apple " moved and much to my surprise, I instead picked up something which

was alive, a black garter snake!!! At the time, I remember not knowing about

snakes. I threw the snake into the air and screaming, ran into the house. I

was frightened!!! I was consoled but still afraid. My mother always hated

snakes and even in later years if a snake was shown on the old western

movies, she would leave the room or walk up and turn the tv off!!

My father was to take me for walks after this experience and I distinctly

remember stopping one day along the path to observe a snake slithering

through the grasses right before our eyes. I was taken aback and fearful at

that time. My father took my hand and spoke at length with me, telling me

the ways of a snake and how they are more afraid of us than we of them. I

remember clearly he tried and was successful helping me overcome my fear.

For years down the road on vacations and at special times, it was with my

father, I visited the reptile buildings in zoos across the country.

We lived in this old house for about 6 years and then my father decided to

sell the property to a developer. All the memorablia was gone, POOF!!! The

old telephone with a crank, the icebox, the barn and hay loft, the stereoptic

viewfinder, the trunk in a room upstairs that held an old wooden doll, all

gone in an instant, left only in my precious memory. Times of freedom to run

and play curiously entertained my young mind and soul. My father shed the

skins of his past and I was forced to shed some of mine. Yet holding all of

this in my memory there is a seed that was planted so very long ago. I

treasure old things and visit just as you, flea markets and antique dealers

searching and admiring old telephones, viewfinders and old wooden dolls. I

never did play with dolls as a child, most likely in rebellion to my loss of

that special wooden doll once remembered and suddenly gone.

I remarked to my mother once, before she died (1974), my most favorite

memories of my childhood were of those times in Hudson. Her comment in reply

was she didn't understand because it was in those years that I was ill most

of the time with polio, and serious allergies. I don't remember being ill

during these times at all. I wonder why? Maybe someone here will have a

reply?

In the mid 80's I took my two children, then about 13 and 9 to see where I

had been raised, the old farm, and my schools etc. The property had been

sold to a developer and was nothing like it had been when I was small. Rows

and rows of streets lined those 240 acres, (Mellencamp sang of these) tickie

tackie, " pink houses " and no apple trees at all. It took forever to find the

" old house, " but we did!!! There it was standing amongst them looking

rather odd to say the least. We could not resist knocking on the door, but

no one was home at the time. I have not returned since that time, yet will

someday, I am certain of this.

<<This experience that I call my first recollection, was probably similar to

that process known as Imprinting, which occurs in ducks, etc. It forms a sort

of inexplicable bond that lasts throughout one's lifetime somehow. The

memory of that event has undergone many changes with my growth and

development>>

I have and understand that " inexplicable bond " you speak of here, Mutt. A

Scorpio I am and in tune with the snake or serpent as not only a symbol of my

sun sign but a symbol of the myth of my life which includes the ways of

snakes, shedding their skin. I have shed my skin often more times than I

wish to remember, growing along the way, to levels of consciousness and

understanding of myself and my myth in this lifetime.

<<Everyone needs a myth to live by, and some

need more than one to account for different functions and modes of behavior I

think.>>

I know this is only one myth in my life story here.

<<silly stories like this, Ha!>>

Your story not so silly to me, Mr. Mutt. With the loss of both my parents

and Christmas' of memories past, I join you in my fondest memories. I now

live rurally again and am able to look up into the clear skies and roam the

country fields again. I haven't picked up any snakes yet though.

merry