The Price of a Pizza

Maple Bark

Not very often did my father complain about the way of the world except when it came to 'The Price of a Pizza'. When his offspring and their offspring would wind up at his house near a mealtime, my parents ordered pizza instead of scaring up dinner for nine or twelve on a moments notice. My father often took that opportunity to start again with 'how much do you think it costs to make a pizza?' Various adult children regularly responded variously. "I am buying it, Dad" to "You are right, Dad, that is exactly what is wrong with America" or "Yes but add in labor costs..".

I am intrigued with some of the new brain science I know so little about. As I understand it, your brain thinks thoughts as an automatic muscle response just like scratching an itch, the more you think a thought the more your brain seeks to think that thought. Is that why my father didn't tire of the pizza conversation and why I forget the same things over and over again? Much of this winter I have thought about random patterns, such as on tree bark, in rock beds, in feelings and bird tracks in snow. In salamander season I astound my trail pal Jen with my ability to spot them. The salamander 'pattern' is wired in my brain therefore I see them, I might not see the tree I ran into, but salamanders, I see. Why? Twenty years ago my very young visiting nephew nearly kicked one. He'd only ever seen plastic ones, he thought the salamander was a toy.

Seems we are back to that, the world is what we think it is, but if we get a glimpse out of our regular pattern, maybe we'll see much more.