Friday, January 27, 2006

Melancholy's greek roots are black and bile...

I got a call from my bro E.
He just called to check up to see how I was doing.
He is my bro - but I have two sisters - one from high school (she adopted me into her family of four brothers and 4 sisters), and the other one from a snowy scandanavian country who has been both mentor and mentee during our friendship. A nice family - considering that I don't have any biological brothers or sisters...

The last time we spoke on the phone was just after our little trip to NYC - It was Thelma and Louise and Carrie Bradshaw. E, Pet and myself on the road on the I-98, singing and laughing all the way. It was the shortest 36 hours I have spent - it flew by in a blink of an eye, but each minute was super charged with fun and memories that will last me a lifeitme.


He called to say hi - to see how I was doing after the whole thing with my mom - now that she was home, after the operation, how I was holding up, how we were feeling. It was nice to know that people care - that some people are not afraid of getting involved in other people's lives becasue things can get too sticky. I am so very happy I have my friends - my bro and sisters. Without them, I don't think I would be riding out this storm so well, so gracefully.

Am I waiting for the other shoe to drop?
I don't know.
it all seems so surreal...


melan- + cholE (greek origins - black and biles)

Why does being melancholy have such a bleek gramatical historical root?

When I feel melancholy, I don't experience any sickness or upset. It's actually the opposite - I get a warm, mushy - sitting in the sun - warm all over feeling. Sitting with my mother tonight, I remember when we took our roadtrip to Boston - Cape Cod years ago. Sure, we fought. What mother and teenage daughter don't fight; but there were good times. I felt melancholy about that summer, those times we spent together. I wonder what our next trip will be, and if we are doomed to have our last too soon...

Memories - melancholy - a slice of temporal cheese cake that is nice to indulge in, but done too often, can easily cause heartburn and sometimes, even heartache.

Black bile...

I wonder what the origin of melancholy would have been if the ancient greeks had discovered Tums or Rolaids...

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