prosaic

so i was thinking. when you are born, you are entirely your mother and father. well, probably a bit more of your mother, but, beside the point. what i mean is that all of your cells came from one cell. and that one cell came from two, one from each of your parents. but as you grow, new cells, while replicas of old ones (in most cases), are at least in part due to other things - food, injections, reactions to reagents - and eventually to other people.

while any exchange of fluids or cells begins familiarly, eventually exchanges occur with people further removed, genetically. a kiss, shared food, sexual exchanges, a blood transfusion even (though this is not in line with the point i'm attempting to make).

eventually, the creation of some of your cells is dependent upon whatever digested cells have been exchanged between you and that other person. and so you are part of someone, and they are a part of you. because even thought that cell might die, it will have replicated itself and so the cells live on.

and i know that this same rationale could be applied to that carrot that i ate last week, or to all the skin cells one inhales every day. but those things don't interest me. for one, carrots suck. and for another, i'm interested in the voluntary exchange between two people.

i like the idea of living in someone else, and them in me. perhaps it is an odd way to think of it, which is why i don't very often. but i like it when i do.