children's songs for adults

it all started a little more than a month ago, when my yin purchased tickets for us to see Phish in Miami. i have already ruminated on my complicated relationship with the band, and last night only served to confirm much of what i have long suspected...

we arrived after 5pm, parked, and made our way to "the lot," which i can only describe as a mix between a swap meet, tailgate, and open air drug market. there are bean burritos and "goo balls," cheap pizza and undecipherable meats on sticks. there are innumerable sketchy characters pacing about, many looking for their sister "Molly," and my favorite is a guy mumbling under his breath as he traverses the crowds. i listen closely, but even after he passes a second time, i'm unable to tell if he's selling "doses" or "dosas."

(mmmm... dosas)

there is an RV with a sign that reads "Please Come In" and we decide to take them up on it. a short girl wearing a doo-rag and a half-baked, made-up name tells us 18 people live in this automotive monstrosity. she is very polite, and i ask her about the commune to which she belongs. he answer is interesting, but cryptic, and i leave with the understanding that her community is somewhere between neo-hippie bohemian and Jews for Jesus Freaktopia.

eventually, after a bean burrito, we make our way inside the arena to our very good seats in the fourth row. i have not been in an arena since the dismal days of 2001, when i left a bad situation in North Carolina for a worse situation in New Jersey, but this is beside the point.

[shift tense]

the point is that my yin spies La Cienega, who jumps across the seats and kisses us both, tasting of liquor and reeking of patchouli. i have not seen her in more than a year, and other than sporadic missed phone calls, we have had no communication since she left for the West. it is a surreal moment, and there is some odd karmic bond connecting the three of us.

once upon a time, La Cienega was my yin's cheerleading coach, and i remember a night in 2007 when i still fawned over her, enlisted my yin's help in trying to persuade her that the gap between our ages was not to vast. the four of us - La Cienega, my yin, my yin's future ex, and myself - had gone to a kirtan that night, and returned to a small condo just off the ocean still vibrating. we drank tea and shared stories, and in many ways that magical night seems a lifetime ago.

(yet)

last night the three of us stood there in the 4th row embracing once more, and my yin told La Cienega how we had spoken of her earlier in "the lot" - somehow we knew we would see her.

La Cienega just smiled her indescribable smile, batted her bottomless eyes, and told us that she felt blessed to know we were together. she retreated once more into the crowd, and the lights dimmed to start the show...