LJI Week 22 Write-off: The Snake

[alycewilson]

This is my sudden-death write-off entry for Week 22 of LJ Idol (therealljidol, which is an open topic. I had no idea this morning what I wanted to write about, and then the idea found me.

Comments

[bleodswean]

Oh, A!!!!!!!!!!! This is....STUPENDOUS!!!!

[alycewilson]

Thank you! More and more often lately, I've been taking my grad school poetry professor's advice to write what is hardest to say.

[adoptedwriter]

Oh wow! Yeah...At least it wasn't a rattler...I'd be too scared to want to bother with it. I agree. The snake needed to be free.

[alycewilson]

Very grateful it wasn't a rattler! The experience was a mixture of fear and of compassion for the snake.

[karmasoup]

Goodness. I’m terribly sorry you were saddled with someone that... complex... for so long. I actually had a brief fling with a hippie type once in my late 20s... it was a special enough to have inspired me in many ways, to have kept some fond memories of still to this day, and even to write about once, but there was a season for it - a time when both of us briefly traveled the same path because we each needed something about what the other’s varied perspective energy gave to us, but then we naturally continued in opposite directions, and I was glad to put it behind me. In my experience running into a lot of hippie types, most are inclined to cherish and value all living things, often to the detriment of functionality, at times... your ex seems such an odd dichotomy to have actually wanted to imprison another living creature. I’m sure he’d convinced himself not to see it that way, but still, unless the snake didn’t just cross his path, but actually ran up his leg and hung out on his shoulder, clearly, it was just one of those

[alycewilson]

Actually, we weren't together that long, which is odd when you consider that I ended up marrying him. As of the time we got married, we'd only been together about a year, and shortly after our first anniversary, things went south. We were officially divorced by our second wedding anniversary

[furzicle]

Now we have some insight into why a snake is imbued with magical powers. And you have seen them! It is indeed a clue that what was magical to him was repulsive to you.

[alycewilson]

Well, he certainly would have said it was magical. Maybe it was charming him.

Given many other experiences I had with him, however, sadly, I believe he was suffering from schizophrenia.

[tonithegreat]

This is such a great entry! It’s fascinating to hear about your younger self making the choices to live the hippie life with him back then. This entry really tells an interesting tale and packs a nice punch.

[alycewilson]

I met him, appropriately enough, while living in a place called the Hippie House in grad school. But I was never a nomad like he was. Plus, his refusing to see a counselor about his mental health issues was the last straw.