Spring sprang yesterday and the snakes came out of hibernation. A tangle of snakes appeared on the rocks of our teeny little pond. Literally. At least five of them, all in a criss-crossed heap. We thought they were perhaps a family but a little research (don’t you love the internet?) tells us that snakes don’t hang out in families and that instead, our newly-awakened snakes were mating. The big one isn’t mama but she probably is the girl. They were bold. They were everywhere. We figured they were hungry so Steve restationed the goldfish to a pot. “Eat rodents”, we say. “Not our fish.” The tangle dispersed but, at any given moment, it’s still easy to spot one or more of them. At first glance this morning I see a small head peeping out from under the waterfall. Yesterday, Steve saw one slide down the “creek” and drop over the waterfall. We have whitewater snakes!

There is a different tangle in my head. Today is May Day and the “Day Without Immigrants” economic boycott. The more I think on the related issues, human and economic, the more confused I am. I know so-called “illegals”. Although I can’t think of people as illegal and the people I know aren’t criminal. On the contrary, I am humbled and inspired in their presence. And uncomfortable. I have so much, and the hardships of my life pale in comparison. The poverty that begins in Mexico and, in the dreams of many, ends here is beyond my comprehension. The desperate need that could drive someone to risk their life to cross the border, to leave loved ones, to walk across the desert, to work so hard for what for me would be so little, yet relatively is so much. Even more beyond my comprehension is what to do about it. The complexity of the political issues, the economic issues, the societal issues … they feel beyond me. It is a copout to stop here but I don’t know what else to do. I am torn.

I envy the snakes their clarity of purpose. Tangles of body rather than mind.