Nice Shackles

I’m 42 years old, and I still like the Muppets. My favorite: Animal. Perhaps with him, is where my fondness for the drums began. The Muppets speak to my lighter side, and the drums speak to my spiritual side. Combining the two, brings a smile to my face.

I like most anything that allows us to step outside of our usual, customary form, if only for the moment. I think that is why I’ve always enjoyed dressing up for Halloween. I don’t like Halloween so much, but I do like masking myself behind a different character.

Rarely do we get a logical reason to do so. But, I think its good therapy. In my case, I think its needed therapy. For a few hours or an evening, I get to shelf my usual thoughts, my usual code of conduct, and become something or someone else. 

One of my favorite costumed evenings was when I was that of a retired Vegas singer named Morty. His cigar rarely left his mouth. His full head of hair was as grey as the suit he wore. And from the moment I stepped into the outfit, I did my best to not step out of character. Regardless of his bad manners, he had a heart of gold. 

Life makes a great deal of demands upon us, or at least of me: behave well, be smart, be diligent, provide for my children and keep them safe, be a successful writer, have a plan B in case writing career falters. The lists of demands is quite lengthy. At times it's overwhelming. Every day of my life, I give those I love my all. Every time I take on a task, I do so with my best effort. I don’t know how to live life any other way - it’s who I am.

But I’m also the person who wants to be Animal for a day; shackled to my drums. 

When you’re a dog person, you often measure others by whether they too like dogs. In an odd way, for me, the same goes for whether someone likes the Muppets. Further analysis into one’s psyche can be made by asking which Muppet they like best. If I were a psychologist, I’d probably ask that question. Once answered - no doubt - I'd have a better understanding of my patient, and what makes them tic.

Later today I head back to the courthouse. It has been two years, almost to the day, since I entered my divorce papers into the court; two years of trying ardently to divorce myself from this individual. I will be masked in composure, my mind set to answer any question given to me referencing the last decade of my life. I will be dressed professionally, my face held calm and patient. While inside lives, the wild, red haired Animal, with torn jeans and a thirst to live life with wild abandoned.

Sane