“In a land there's a town
And in that town there's a house
And in that house there's a woman
And in that woman there's a heart I love
I'm gonna take it with me when I go
I'm gonna take it with me when I go”

        -Tom Waits

Today the grey clouds quickly gave way to a turquoise sky interspersed with cottony clouds.  The clouds looked as if they weren't real but rather painted on a canvas of sky by an accomplished artist.  In times like these I find myself holding my tattered inlaid turquoise ring (probably made by a Navajo child for practice) up to the blue sky, a sort of mental calibration. 

One of my literary heroes once wrote how he keeps a little stone jish (called a “jish” by the Native Americans) in his pocket that he found in a cave in New Mexico.  He used to keep it in a small deer skin pouch, but his dog ate the pouch, so he just keeps it in his pocket.  His little stone shows the stratigraphy of a million years.  And every time he’s having a bad day, he reaches into his pocket and rubs it to remind him that nothing is permanent except the earth.  And thus his troubles may not be too bad in the universal scheme of things. 

 

 

 

I have a jish of my own to rub when life gets difficult.  This, along with my turquoise ring and all the love I've ever known.  They are all things I cherish and as Tom Waits sings, “I’m gonna take it with me when I go”. 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dixxse4dpQ4