The other day I’m hiking around the World Famous San Diego Zoo (right? you folks in South Africa, weigh in: have you heard of this zoo? Is it really world famous?) and on my way to visit the lions I pass some bears. The weather’s nice, I’m in no particular hurry, and I haven’t really taken any time to look at the bears before, so I slow down for a little visit. They all look – you know, big, brown, bearlike. I drift along and find myself standing in front of the habitat of the Alaskan Brown Bear.
She’s hanging out in her little bathing pool, washing her beautiful little face with paws that are surprisingly dainty, given her general dimensions (huge). Eventually she considers herself, apparently, suitably gorgeous, and emerges from the pool, like Venus on the half shell. This dame is enormous. She sort of lumbers around, shifting her girth from side to side; she stands directly in front of me, yawns, and shakes the water from her fur. Then she settles herself down next to an absolutely huge boulder that’s been placed in her habitat. She lays both paws, and then her head, on the smooth, cool, gray rock. She looks as comfortable as if she’s lying on a feather pillow.
This morning, absently perusing my Pocket Astrologer, I noted that later tonight – just as I hope to be cuddled up on the couch with my sweetie, eating Thai food, drinking champagne, and watching a movie – Venus will square Saturn. And my initial reaction was, “Damn! There goes my lovely weekend, my sweet date.” The restaurant will be overloaded and our takeout will be late and cold; the champagne flat; the movie a disappointment.
Well, maybe it will, maybe it won’t. And if it is… maybe it’s not a punishment, but a gift. Maybe there’s something better we could be doing, something more satisfying (although it’d have to be pretty damn good to trump that little Thai/movie date scenario), and Saturn might roll some huge boulders out into our path to try to divert us to something different, something marvelous.
And that’s when I thought about that bear, snuggling up to that big old, hard-looking rock. That bear was the picture of Venusian pleasure; I think if you’d offered her a Sealey Posturepedic at that moment, she would have declined. She was enjoying her Saturnian rock; it was something cool and comfortable to lean on.
And that’s when it hit me. Ah… it’s simply a question of attitude, isn’t it? When you’re trying to have a good time and the world rolls a rock in your path, well, there’s only one thing to do:
Love the rock.
Venus will square Saturn on September 3, 2012, 00:43 am PDT.
