Think Like Louis Carroll

    In spite of the quarantine, Mike and I did venture out last Sunday. We went to Stone Mountain to do our five-mile walk around the base – thinking there would not be many people about and we could keep our distance from the folks who might show up. But the walkers, joggers, bikers were there in only a slightly less abundance than are usually there on a Sunday morning.

 Mike was worried because we were walking clockwise around the mountain and we kept greeting people passing us going counterclockwise. He said there must have been a notice for everyone to go in the same direction so as to keep a social distance, and we were going the wrong way! I tried to assure him we were fine, but Mike continued to be a bit uncomfortable.

 After a while, a man walking much faster than we were and going in our clockwise direction passed us. “Oh thank goodness!” I told the man, “my husband thought we were the only people going in this direction, and thus it must be the wrong way!” The man said, “No! there is no wrong way. Think like Lewis Carroll!” Mike said, “Well in that case, I guess we need to be on the watch for the White Rabbit and keep a social distance!” And I said, “Or the Red Queen and keep our heads.” The passing stranger replied, “I don’t know, I’m the Cheshire cat myself.” Mike then said, “Well, thank you for your smile!” Because he did have a great big smile.

And then, the Cheshire cat disappeared!

       A Lewis Carroll reference while walking around Stone Mountain on a quarantined Sunday morning! We can never be bored!

       I’ve been a huge fan of Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass ever since my senior year of college. On a quick scan, it does not appear that I’ve mentioned this here before, so I hope to not be repeating.

       My college microbiology teacher was Dr. Treanor. On some of the handouts she gave during class, there would be a quote from Lewis Carroll at the top. Now, I had read Alice in Wonderland as a kid and did not like it.  I had not appreciated the twisted logic at the time. But seeing the quotes in a microbiology class as a senior in college tickled me no end! I only remember two of them now. One was:       

 

“I can’t believe THAT!” said Alice.
“Can’t you?” said the Queen in a pitying tone. “Try again: draw a long breath and shut your eyes.”

And the other was:

              “I see nobody on the road,” said Alice.

“I only wish I had such eyes,” the King remarked in a fretful tone. “To be able to see Nobody! And at that distance, too! Why, it's as much as I can do to see real people, by this light!”

        These were so spot on for a class about things that can only be seen with a microscope! And the quotes led me to revisit the Alice books, and I talked about them and talked about them to such an extent that my best friend at college, Laura, gave me the Annotated Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass as a graduation gift!

       What a treasure! The notes, the illustrations, the having the stories right there at my fingertips! Over the years, I read the annotated books with my daughters – Sarah and Amanda appreciated the humor and the illogic at much younger ages than I did!

I am not a personal fan of many Disney movies, but the girls and I watched the Disney Alice in Wonderland repeatedly when they were very young, and I loved every moment of it every time.

       The movie was VHS so it and our tape player are now long gone. When Sarah left home, she picked up my Annotated Alice/gift-from-my-best-friend book and said, “I’ll be taking good care of this for you, Mom.” Before I could stop her, my heart told me that Sarah would indeed be taking very good care of the book. She gets to share it nowadays with her daughter and son and husband.

       And now, with the writing of this blurb, I have the brainstorm of the next gift I should give to Amanda’s family!

       The Cheshire cat left more than a smile this morning – memories for the Sharper Stick in the Eye!

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