from now

Maggie and I made a mistake yesterday. We almost didn't see Avatar. We scoffed. Aliens? 3D glasses? I think not. Fortunately, we ignored our misgivings, undid our mistake and saw the movie. I know the fact that I feel so...affected by an alien fantasy movie is going to turn you off to the whole idea of me. But oh my god, I'm so affected by an alien fantasy movie. I think part of my response was due to the fact that so much of the remarkable scenery looked like New Zealand. Later, we learned that the animation was all done here, and it is modeled after New Zealand. Go figure. But it wasn't until I was watching war waged upon our daily wonders that it all really registered. I felt like it was all being ripped out from under me and it was terrifying. I'm going to try to resist saying anything more about Avatar, even though it is all that I want to talk about. I sound crazy.

One of my favorite times in NZ was when we were at a house in Whangarei and were assigned the task of trimming hedges. Having never used a hedge trimmer, both Maggie and I were a bit trepidacious about holding the power to shape someone's lawn. We took it slowly at first, but our confidence quickly blossomed and we were taking turns climbing to the top rung of the ladder and leaning over the hedges with our blades. At one point, I was holding the ladder for Maggie and after a few minutes realized that she hadn't paused in the trimming for quite some time and branches were still flying in all directions. After another moment Maggie stopped. Looked around. "I blacked out," was all she said. I took a few steps back and indeed she had. Directly in front of the ladder was a Maggie-shaped hole in the hedge. Oops. I took over, leaving Maggie on ladder duty. Soon after I began I looked down and Maggie was nowhere to be seen, which is a problem when you expect to find her holding your ladder (and your LIFE) in her hands. I found Maggie under the plum tree, happily munching on plums, her chin dripping with juice. I can't possibly not love this person.