The boy always wondered why he had a human head and a cartoon body.
“Why do I have a human head and a cartoon body?”
Then one day he realized he was made, created very carefully. It wasn’t — He wasn’t a mistake.
He learned how to love himself. He learned how to take care of himself. He learned how to depend on himself. And … he learned how to draw a body and arms and legs.
Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?
Do you feel like you have a human head and a cartoon body?
Mary Oliver, in the last two lines of the poem, Poem 133:The Summer Day, from her book New and Selected Poems, 1992
Beacon Press, Boston, MA, asks a question, “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
I printed a copy of the poem and carried it in my pocket. I unfolded the paper, read the poem, and refolded the paper until the paper fell apart at the creases.
Life is precious.
Your life is precious.
My life is precious.
What do you plan to do with it?
Is there something you want to do?
Train a dog to heel?
Learn how to swim?
Learn how to play the guitar?
Walk the Appalachian Trail?
Write a short story.
Eat pizza in Italy?
Walk around the block?
When will you do it?
The beginning of a new year, new month, or new week, can inspire, (prompt, encourage) us to try to attempt something new.
A new beginning.
Our birthday can also cause us to reflect on our life. Sometimes a medical diagnosis will prompt us to change our behavior and live our wild and precious lives following our dreams.
In 2012 I was diagnosed with melanoma. Thankfully it was caught early and hadn’t spread. Getting skin cancer prompted me to take a writing course I had hesitated to sign up for.
And now at the beginning of this year, I am making art again. Learning how to draw my arms and legs, because I felt like I had a cartoon body.
Please
Love yourself.
Take care of yourself.
Depend on yourself.
And learn how to …
Please tell me what you plan to do with your one wild and precious life. I really want to know. (And once again, the online editor is telling me to delete the word really.)
Whatever you want to do with your life. Please don’t quit.
xo
Pamela
p.s. Don’t quit if you miss a day of walking if you said you would walk every day.
