jLife

“A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a long journey:
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.”

The pilot had pulled the plane back up after a botched landing when I started to crack. Lack of sleep coupled with stress, a small breakfast and turbulence had turned my stomach into an explosive chemical reaction. I eyed the airsick bag in the seat next to me. No, I didn’t want to puke in front of my seatmate. That seemed rude.

“Enough!” I cried out to my Deity. “I’ve had enough of Saturn! Please, make it stop!”

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About halfway through the semester I remember saying to someone that I was at a high point. A lot of things in my life were going well: work, relationships, and church were all on an upward track.

Those times seem so long ago now…

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Relentless pummeling is how one of my friend’s described Saturn’s piece in the Holst suite. Relentless. Exams had not been kind. Sickness, exhaustiion, and sleep deprivation had all beaten me down. At the end of my last exam I broke down as I walked through Balch’s stone gates with snow and death blowing all round me.

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On the plane I was reading a book about race by Lisa Sharon Harper. Inside I was hoping Lewis was right when he said that Saturn eventually relents and gives way to Jupiter. I could use some Joviality right now. Jovial, not Saturnian contemplation.

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How does Saturn lead to Jove?