The complications you could do without

It’s important to recognize holidays named for obscure Polish war heroes, celebrated only in the places you wish you were on those holidays.

Today I’m thinking fondly of Casimir Pulaski Day and the state of Illinois as I do my Monday in a city that’s lately been a little left of hospitable.

I was in Chicago on the first of last March, trudging through the bitter cold to Evanston and telling everyone with a mixture of awe and distress that my fish, Chocolate Milk, had perished during the night…

“Just like the Sufjan Stevens song, except a fish instead of a girlfriend with cancer!”

Not really an apt comparison.  Chocolate Milk wasn’t even particularly impressive, but he was my “crisis fish,” an impromptu purchase during the horrible fall of 2008. Lehman Brothers was collapsing on the news and I was unraveling at at work, so I took a half a day for my mental health.

A few hours later, I was back home trying to explain to my roommate why I thought a blue beta in a small plastic Tupperware was the solution to my problems.

So here’s to the dear things we’ve lost or had taken, be they cars or girlfriends with cancer or simply our peace of mind. May we each be lucky enough to find good friends–or fish– along the way to cover our losses a bit.

(The song’s for Mary for remembering Chocolate Milk and James because he needs it to do battle with the Pink Robots…)

“In the morning in the winter shade
On the first of March on the holiday
I thought I saw you breathing…

Oh the glory when he took our place
But he took my shoulders and he shook my face
And he takes and he takes and he takes.”

This entry was posted on Monday, March 1st, 2010 at 2:10 pm and is filed under spare change. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.