Saturday, December 31, 2011

PROOF

It wouldn't be New Year's if I didn't have regrets.  ~William Thomas

Gentle Readers . . . and Maxwell,

Happy New Year! I guess.

When Someone I Love was a senior in high school, of course the time arrived for her to apply to colleges. She was extremely fortunate because every senior at the prep school had a college adviser to help with creating the list of colleges to which the student would apply. Plus, the adviser would look over applications and make suggestions for improvements.

At one college where Someone I Love applied, rather than writing an essay, she was asked to prove that something intangible exists. I am posting her proof because it continues to awe and astonish me. She wrote it at the age of 17 without any assistance, demonstrating the talent she already had when she was in high school. Writing a proof was the perfect requirement for someone who would eventually immerse herself in geometric algebra. And I'm very pleased that I was able to teach my children how to write because they certainly didn't learn in school.

It also moves me because she writes about our blind sheep dog mix, Kesey (named after Ken Kesey and pronounced Kee-zee). Kesey died during the fall of Someone I Love's freshman year in college. It was horrible. It was heartbreakingly horrible. She was several hours away from us -- no time to come home for a goodbye.

So I love it that this proof also commemorates Kesey. Here it is:

This proof explains love through commonly accepted axioms:

1. God is love. However, as any dyslexic atheist with a sense of humor involving anagrams, or slightly extreme canine fancier can tell you, God and dog are roughly equivalent. Thus, dog is love.

2. Love is blind. If love is both a dog, and blind, then love could be my blind dog, Kesey. Other evidence confirming this involves hours observing said subject, Kesey. Kesey's rotundity suggests Cupid (though not cupidity) and, if any humans feel depressed, they immediately feel much improved upon being within 10 meters of his presence. His presence alone is necessary for these healing effects, thus confirming Lennon's postulate, "All you need is love."

3. Assuming then, based upon presented evidence, that Kesey the sheepdog mix is, in fact, the physical embodiment of love, we come to the axiom "love conquers all." This axiom suggests that Kesey is capable of conquest, an idea confirmed, to some degree, by his Napoleonic stature. Additionally, his administrative skills are honed to perfection. These skills include Insurance of Proper Biscuit Flow, Observation of Neighbors, and Supervision of All Beings in His Residence. Such proficiency in the areas of Economics, Intelligence, and Administration, respectively, will lead to his success as a future world power. 

4. By the logic of causality, every leader has some initial minority of supporters before coming to power. In many such instances, as evidenced by history, the followers in said minority use a code word or phrase to identify themselves to one another. What better word for the followers of Kesey to use than "love," which keeps Kesey's identity unknown to the majority of the hominid populace, who seem largely skeptical about being subjects of a medium-sized white dog, no matter how jovial said dog may be.

Many contend that love her something to do with relationships between beings. This is partially true; all of this love is encompassed by the Buddha nature that is Kesey, and any human ideals about "love" fall short of the world as we know it have come to use this term in its proper sense, referring solely to one fabulous little white dog, whom I am in my dorm room missing.
Q.E.D.

Someone I Love received a very nice note from the admissions office at the university that required the writing. The person who wrote the note said it was one of the best proofs they had seen in a long time.

Ultimately, however, that university did not provide Someone I Love with a scholarship, so she attended and graduated from a college where she was truly wanted and appreciated.

I wish I could show you a photo of Kesey, but I don't seem to have any. When I left Illinois, I tried to keep moving costs down because I wasn't paying them myself. My soon to be ex-husband paid for my move, as was appropriate because I had to move to escape from him. Thus, I left behind items I felt I could do without or that were very heavy, such as most of the photo albums I had compiled over the years.

How I regret doing anything that I thought would help Voldemort, for he ended up accusing me (in settlement papers) of taking everything I wanted from the house and only leaving behind that which I did not want. So untrue.

So untrue.

But I wish you great blessings in 2012. If you have someone with whom you can share at midnight a glass of champagne or sparkling cider or diet coke, then you are blessed. The dogs and I will probably be in our lonely bed.

Infinities of love,

Lola

The only way to spend New Year's Eve is either quietly with friends or in a brothel.  Otherwise when the evening ends and people pair off, someone is bound to be left in tears.  ~W.H. Auden 


 
New Year's Eve, where auld acquaintance be forgot.  Unless, of course, those tests come back positive.  ~Jay Leno



 I made no resolutions for the New Year.  The habit of making plans, of criticizing, sanctioning and molding my life, is too much of a daily event for me.  ~Anaïs Nin

17 comments:

  1. Happy New Year Lola. May this be OUR year.
    Dawn

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  2. Your daughter is such a brilliantly beautiful person. (although you already know this!) Thanks for sharing her essay, it's very touching. New Year's Eve will be a quiet one for us. Branden's on the verge of a cold and is tired from working a lot. He'll get home after 6 tonight so we will order Chinese food and fling ourselves on the couch for some much brain rotting from the TV. I hope you have a good one Lola :)

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  3. Had it together for a 17 year old didn't she? Hope you have a happy new year my friend. You have been on my mind.
    Big hugs.

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  4. haha great quotes and wow that was very well written. Dogs can surely do that and more. Not that the cat would every admit that.

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  5. Happy New Year Lola. I am at Lola's wonderful blog right.

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  6. That is an amazing paper for a 17 year old...thanks to her mom. For most of my life I defined love as being with $50 whore in a $25 room. And that was how if felt and since I never did that, I had no love. Went through one marriage (due to pregnancy not love) and 15 years of being single. But then three things happened to let me know what love is. Judy, Jarrett and Jordan. I hope you will find that love again, LOLA. 2012 would be a good year for doing just that.

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  7. What an amazing proof. How profound. Beautiful. Happy New Year Lola!

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  8. I love the name LOLA. I wish I had that name...

    Love your post. Most interesting for sure!

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  9. Best wishes for 2012 Lola! And that 'proof' was outstanding!

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  10. Just maybe, whoever wrote the bible was dyslexic and they MEANT dog. It only makes sense. ALL dogs want to do is LOVE. All humans want to do is cause pain....and we're made in 'his' image?

    SOMEONE had dyslexia....

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  11. Happy New Year to you and what an awesome story loved it.........

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  12. Happy New Year! Hope you have an awesome new year!

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  13. An amazing proof--I believe every word!!

    HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  14. That very special Someone You Love has a brilliant mind. I hope you have a brilliant 2012. Happy New Year!

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