"Two-dimensional..................."

My wife just departed for her regular Friday morning appointment with the hairdresser, the granddaughter yet asleep, this being her fifth consecutive day visiting with us, a practice that I’m embracing for as long as it lasts (she does turn eleven in a few weeks). Summer vacation is rapidly coming to a close, the heat the last few days like an oppressive blanket over all and the swimming pool the only escape. My two small air-conditioners, one positioned at either end of the house, are not enough to eradicate such temperatures and our fuse box wasn’t built to stand the strain of additional wattage. Nonetheless, we survive. Beth’s world, other than the climate change, yet revolves in a normal, consistent, chaotic chain of events: the laundry is an eternal chore, the house is a “mess”, someone needs something and needs her to accomplish it. Relaxation is a television set, in the evenings, Fox News filling in any and all space where her few likes have been reduced to re-runs. Me? I help when needed and join her occasionally for a dose of O’Reilly, Huckabee, or maybe even Kyra Sedgwick on “The Closer”, enjoying some of those detective series until they seemingly turn into nothing more than pornographic soap operas. For the most part, though, admittedly, I “live in my mind”. In truth, I don’t just “live” there, I go exploring there, looking under rocks, examining intrusions, theorizing what-ifs, my very existence, a matter of mental “escape”, an oasis that keeps me in focus, taking me to an even deeper river flowing from on high. Putting things down on “paper” affords me the chance to better sort it all out, every breath I breathe and the next step providing fuel for the fire.....