At the moment, I’m pretty sure it’s baby goats that make the world go round.

But it could be that first day with spring in the air, where the brave Daffodil announces the end of winter.

It also could be the smell of vegetable soup, replete with fresh thyme, permeating my entire house all night long. It makes me hungry not for the soup but for the smell, and the sensations.

But maybe, what makes the world go around is time with my granddaughter. Yesterday, she sat up for the first time unassisted. That makes me wonder what I did for the first time yesterday. Because every day deserves several firsts and doing something for the first time makes one aware of the world going round.

The alternation of sun and sweet moon peeking over the horizon reminds us of the ongoing revolution, but gives little insight into cause.

For 20 some years now my children have made my world go round.

My son called after taking college placement tests. He had such fun with them. He knew that he didn’t know the math, which removed all the pressure. He flubbed the test because there was no alternative. And he laughed all the while. Him taking a “serious” situation lightly made the world go around for a bit.

On the English part of the test he had a wonderful time expressing himself, and in the process skipped three levels of English classes. Maybe watching your child do good makes the world go around, until you watch your child simply have a really good time, and then that makes the world go around.

Sometimes, salt caramel ice cream appears to make the world go around, but then I look in the mirror and discover that it really just makes me rounder.

I’m not sure what scientists say makes the world go around. Which gives me great latitude to make up my own excuses for its continued rotation.

But I do keep coming back to baby goats. When they are born they are the cutest they will ever get. As they age they stretch our perception of cuteness to not very cute places. And that stretching too, like all stretching physically and mentally, plays a part in the world going around.

The idea of sex certainly makes the world go around. But it takes some real opening up to the land of sensations, and being present to embarrassment to have sex itself make the world go round.

I used to think that my mother made the world go round, she cared so much about all of us. But then she left, and the world still went around. But she lives on inside me, I care, and the world continues to go around.

Sometimes, I think the world revolves around me. That’s very different then what makes the world go around.

Other times I sit as still as I can, or lie down on the grass on a summer’s day and am still until I feel the world going around. Its movement is so subtle. But when I can feel into it, I am comforted by it.

On really great days, when I’m feeling younger than my years and wise, anything can appear to make the world go round.

But other times, some days, in the face of heartbreak, I’m afraid the world will stop and I will either be in the dark, or constantly in the light. Even when times are tough I’ll thank the baby goats for day and night.

I don’t want Earth’s rotation to be dependent upon me. I might forget to spin it. I want it to be dependent upon something that always appears cute, wonderful, and innocent which is where the baby goats come in.

Yes, I’m bound to come up with all kinds of explanations for why the world goes round. But more often than not I will settle on baby goats. Because that feels especially good. Their little furry chins, their stiff little bodies their beautiful fur painted just so.

Yes, I want the baby goats to be responsible for the world going around. I’m along for the ride. And quite a ride it is. Thank you baby goats for this game of spinning the world just so. It’s very comforting to this old goat.

 

 

Relephant Favorites:

Really, I am Almost Enlightened.

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Author: Jerry Stocking

Editor: Travis May

Image: Emily Settle—Used with persmission