dear, constant, Orion. sigh.

Guess who’s made a recent appearance in my life again?
Orion.
Oh gosh, I just love him and I don’t care who knows.
I’d sing Baby, It’s Cold Outside with him any old day.

That might seem like a random thing to say, but let me explain.
Battleshy Youths and The Paper Janes and Em McKeever and many other lovely friends all just made a Christmas Album together. On Sunday. Seriously, in one day. It was wild and ramshackle and lovely and hilarious and I cannot wait to hear the results.
But, one song I really have wanted to sing for a while now is Baby, It’s Cold Outside.
You know, the kind of creepy, but kind of adorable Christmas song?
But, none of the guys would sing it with me.
I had the impression that they were afraid it’d be like a public admonition of feelings or something.
And I know, I KNOW. Not that; anything but that.
So, a wonderful and talented female singer named Erin agreed to sing it with me.
I changed the line, “I ought to say no, no, no, sir” to “I ought to say no, no, no, girl” and everything.
So now it’s a sweet little lesbian-ish song that makes me laugh, and I have to admit that I love it.

But I’d sing Baby, It’s Cold Outside to Orion and totally mean every word.
Speaking of constellations, I said something really pretty stupid today.
I do that at times, guys.
I’ve literally had a friend tell me, “For being so smart, you sure do say some pretty dumb things sometimes.”
And then I had a different friend recently call it endearing.
I think I like that version better.
Anyway, on the bus home from NYC tonight, I was lucky enough to sit next to a young man from Transylvania.
YOU GUYS, TRANSYLVANIA!
He immediately told me that, no, Dracula does not live there, but I told him it’d be okay if he did; vampires are so trendy right now.
But, of course, I had so many questions for him.
Since he speaks three languages (just three!, he said), which one does he think in?
(Hungarian)
What does his name (Oguish) mean?
(White Eagle)
And then I asked him if they have different constellations in Romania.
He very kindly said that he thinks all of earth sees the same constellations in the sky, but maybe just at different times.
Which is when I realized that I wasn’t talking to someone from a different planet, rather, just a different country.
So right, we all have one moon, and we all see Orion.
My bad.

But how’s that for going full circle and ending up right where I started?
Yes, that’s right: Orion.
He’s a generous and constant force in my life.
He’s a beautiful part about cold weather.
And tonight, while someone was noticing my well-loved vintage purse–the jerry-rigged yellow strap I’ve replaced the original one with and the hole through which random dimes fall because the leather threading has come undone–he observed, “You have a hard time letting go, huh?”
In other words: time for a new purse, girl.

And yes, I don’t love change.
It’s hard for me; I’ve been generally happy with my life–save the minor blip of this past season–for as long as I can remember, so why change?
But, change is necessary and even beautiful and can land me in places I never even knew existed.
Good places, I mean.
Great places, even.
In fact, change is necessary for growth; and maybe it’s too simple to say I’m either dying or growing, but maybe that’s not too far off from reality, either.
Anyway.
In the midst of all this change that I am trying my darndest to embrace and be all kinds of zen about, there’s Orion.
Steady.
There.
And I love him for it.
And his belt.
I’m a fan of a good accessory, you know.

And it’s probably not at all necessary to mention that I might have referred to North and South Germany before quickly–like, really REALLY fast–amending it to East and West Germany.

Oh, gosh.
Sometimes I am way too, um, endearing.
ahem.