the trigger for this morning's diatribe was my daughter's most recent post at "the monkey heart discourses." in the meat of the post she made comment about her "rear view."

something you may not know about me is-- i've been a study of motion since the late '70's. that is to say at some point around then i found my weight creeping unerringly toward the 200 mark. not a pretty picture then and even less so now.

the point is that it was then that i set out to do something to battle the battle of the bulge. i took up jogging. in time i connected with a group of friends who came to be known as red's raiders. it was great to be part of a group. we met early on sunday morning to do what was usually a 10 mile training run. on saturdays we would often travel together to a 10-k race somewhere in the panhandle area. over time i became a fair bottom of the top 1/3 finisher.

red would often make the point, when referencing my disappointment in finish place or time, "you should have chosen your parents more carefully." well, duh! why didn't i think of that.

so to my darling daughter, " you should have chosen your parents more carefully." you should have chosen a dad blessed by a preponderance of fast twitch fibers, one that was lean and mean, built for speed-- picture mercury .

as for the mom, one whose body was that of a goddess, lithe and tall with the heart of athena might have been the ideal choice.

if one aspires to be the world's fastest man, or the prima ballerina of all time, as simon and garfunkel sang "choose your parents well."

as that is not possible, then one's best chances lay in that we are more than the sum of the two parts. one can only hope the alchemy of conception includes the best of all who came before.

given that hope is impossible before that moment of truth, we all are left to play the hand dealt to us.

to my daughter, i love you just the way you are-- and even if the fates failed to deal you a goddess in the rear view. aio