Memento Mori

"I cannot tell if what the world considers 'happiness' is happiness or not.  All I know is that when I consider the way they go about attaining it, I see them carried away, headlong, grim, and obsessive, in the general onrush of the human herd, unable to stop themselves or to change their direction.  All the while they claim to be just on the point of attaining happiness.  My opinion is that you never find happiness until you stop looking for it."

- Chuang Tzu

Imagine the text being all lowercase and in cursive.  Attempted recreation with Dall·e AI that went awry.

I open the drivers side door and step out of my car onto the newly frozen ice that stretches across the vast parking lot like the frozen tundra of the Arctic.  The air is crisp.  Dripping snot instantly freezes on your upper lip.  Deep breath in - the cold air burns your lungs.  Above this modern tundra there's a highway overpass that is slowly roaring to life with cars starting to zoom by as the sun rises in the distance to greet us and warm the frigid landscape - much like lions roaring to the sunrise in the African savanna.

A mustard yellow 1972 Chevy LUV parks next to me and out steps a gentleman with matching yellow socks, a yellow trench coat, and a yellow Dick Tracy style hat.  Feeling like I've suddenly been teleported into a cartoon parallel universe I ask him if he knows if we have to pay for parking here?  He doesn't answer my question and responds with a question of his own:

First time here, eh?  

Yes it is, I reply.

Well you're in for a wild ride then!

I think so as I nod my head in agreement while staring at the comic book character.

Yeah, you have to pay for parking by the entrance.

So we walk all the way to the entrance, pay for parking, then walk back to our cars to put the ticket in the car, then walk back to the entrance?

Yup, you got it!

Alrighty then I mutter as I accidentally slam the car door shut - spooking some icicles off the overpass.

It's too early for these types of annoying shenanigans that society imposes on us that really don't make any sense at all when you think about them.  After paying for parking, putting the ticket in my car, then walking the marathon distance back to the entrance of the building I get in line amongst many notable characters.  I ponder if we're supposed to dress up as I appear to be the only one wearing normal clothes.  Perhaps I missed the memo on their website.  I make a mental note that maybe I should pick up a flannel shirt for this type of occasion so I can appear dressed up in this type of setting but still blend in amongst more normal spots.

The line moves quickly and their prohibited items sign very specifically calls out "No Mushrooms" which is intriguing.  Good thing I don't need to worry about that.  It is the first time I've ever seen mushrooms specifically called out on a not allowed sign.  What would happen if someone showed up with a lunchbox full of portabellas for a tasty lunch?  I'm pretty sure I'm in for a very interesting day.  I'm glad I decided to have coffee this morning flashes through my mind.

After clearing security and entering the building I ask an employee where we're supposed to go or start.  Wherever you want man, is the unhelpful response.  I wander into a dark and furnitureless room the size of a high school cafeteria that has relaxing and gentle spa nature music playing.  As I enter the room a white spotlight appears at my feet that's only a few inches wider than my feet.  As I walk, the spotlight follows me.  If I move faster the spotlight widens while tracking to keep my feet lit then if I stop it narrows back down.  Each step I take leaves a trail of multi colored light prints on the floor behind me.  Wherever you move in the room, the light follows.  There's no escaping it.  No matter how fast you move, it follows.

As more people enter the room, each person unwittingly receives their very own personal spotlight following them around and each person leaves their own technicolor trail of lights on the floor.  The trail of lights linger for about 30 seconds after each footstep then they slowly fade away.

A giant, ear to ear smile appears on my face as I watch everyone, young and old, walk and run around the room, unsuccessfully trying to outsmart the lights.  Well this is one of the coolest things I've ever witnessed runs through my mind.

On all four walls is a forest waving in the wind, as the music changes the forest fades away and an ocean moving with the current is now projected on every wall.  I approach one of the walls that has coral illuminated on it.  I quickly poke the wall with my hand, unsure of what will happen and a light print appears on the wall where I touched it.  I run down the wall pounding my fist into the wall every step.  I stop, turn around and sure enough there's a stream of multi-colored light prints on the wall with the oldest ones slowly starting to fade away, one by one.

Alright, that's enough of this room as I saunter out and find myself back in the lobby.  There are people getting on an elevator that I hadn't noticed before, so I join them.  Once inside, an employee with a questionable goatee who I think is playing a character but am not really sure runs through a Willy Wonka style speech about how we're about to be transported into another world.

Thirty seconds later the elevator doors open on a different floor and we exit into what appears to be a mini city.  Mini buildings dot the walls and have doors that you can walk into.  There's a Delorean car in the street.  A bus a bit further down and a taxi down an alleyway  I hang a right, open a door and see nothing but giant neon florescent trees that span several stories tall.  My eyes widen, my brain says nope I'm not ready for that as I slam the door shut, take a step back, pause, then crack the door open again.  The ridiculously tall neon trees are all still there.  Okay, well those actually exist, which is good, I'm not losing my mind, it's just a warehouse in Denver that for some reason has a fake forest in part of it as I start to question whether someone in the line at the entrance somehow blew mushroom dust into my face without me noticing it.

I walk away from the door, walk back past the elevator and meander along the street of the fake city.  I poke my head into one door and there's a talking slice of pizza that's about the size of a large gorilla.  Past the DeLorean there's a room that has music emanating from it.  As you enter, the piano, organ and drums are all playing themselves to preprogrammed songs - there are not any people playing the instruments.  The organ keys are moving themselves as is the drum high-hat pedal.  As if ghosts had formed a band and were playing.  There are plenty of places to sit with different vantage points where you can listen, enjoy the music and marvel at the instruments strumming along to their own beat - without any human intervention.

I continue my hunt for something more low key.  I open a door and it's floor to ceiling, wall to wall blue bath tile with a bench.  Ah, this is more my style, this seems like a Roman bathhouse.  I take a seat on the bench and enjoy the quiet as I marvel at the tiles that are reminiscent of the crystal clear blue waters of Cozumel.  I can't stop thinking about how weird yet intriguing this warehouse is.  This is truly something else and makes you question reality.  The door opens and a lady in black high heels steps in.  She has sunflower pants, a sunflower dress jacket, a sunflower sun hat complete with giant bug eyed sunglasses.

She sits down on the other side of the bench.  I say nothing and close my eyes to meditate away the strangeness of this place.

Have you seen Memento Mori?  Pierces through my meditation via my ears.  I ponder how interesting of a question that is.  If I walked up to a random person on the street and asked them that question then simply walked away, most people would have no idea what you just said.

I open my eyes, look at her with puzzled eyes and say What?

Memento Mori, have you seen it?  There have only been a handful of times in my life where I've been really glad that I took two years of Latin as a foreign language in middle school (such a fancy middle school - I know).  This is one of those times.  "Semper ubi sub ubi" is the main Latin phrase I remember which translates to "Always where under where."  It may not be grammatically correct but it is hilarious.  I do remember some other random phrases though.  Memento Mori = Remember Death.

I'm still very confused as to why some random lady decked out in sunflowers and bug eyed sunglasses in a strange warehouse in Denver is asking me if I have seen remember death.

I'm sorry, what are you talking about? I spout out.

Upstairs, by the bathroom, there's a random neon pink sign that says "Memento Mori", have you seen it?

No, I haven't been up there yet.

You must check it out, it is absolutely beautiful.  It's a very warm and comforting sign yet the actual message is very haunting.  You must check it out.

Sounds good, I'll check it out.

The sunflower lady rises from the bench and walks towards the door.

Is this place as weird and strange for you as it is for me?

She opens up the door, does not look back and says, "That's the beauty of this place" then walks right out and the door clicks shut behind her.

This place is just odd interaction after odd interaction while being surrounded by colorful, stimulating non-sense I grumble to myself.

I walk out of the Roman bathhouse spa, attempt to find the stairs.  You do not find the stairs, the stairs find you.  After wandering from room to room (or dimension to dimension rather) I somehow find myself on the top level.  I stop to get my bearings, lean my back on the wall and literally fall through the wall into a hidden room the size of a small closet that is lined with CD's that have been stapled to the walls.  The absurdity of a hidden door on a wall does not surprise me at this point and I just burst out laughing.

I leave the closet room, continue walking, hang a left and there it is.  Hanging on a black wall speckled with small white dots 10 feet in front of me is the pink memento mori neon sign.  The text is all lowercase and in cursive.  There's a small spotlight shining on it from the side, really making it pop.  Wow, the sunflower lady was right, it is beautiful and haunting at the same time.  The warm pink glow of the text warms your heart and the gentle buzz of the neon sign calms your nervous system yet the text is literally telling you to Remember Death.

I close my eyes and I can see each of the faces flash before my eyes of all of the people I've ever known throughout my life who are no longer on this planet.  Some passed away in car crashes, others from gun violence with a few suicides sprinkled in there.  Tears form in my eyes and my heart gets heavy as I remember each person and the impact they had on my life.  I open my eyes briefly, look at the sign again, close them and my mind jumps to all of the times that I should have been killed but so far, I have come out the other side, each and every time, relatively unscathed.  I open my eyes as tears stream down my cheeks, the warm neon sign appears to be smiling at me as it tells my eyes in the most gentle way possible, everything is the way it's supposed to be and to never forget death.

The only way to truly live is to realize that you too will someday perish, there's nothing anyone can do to prevent the inevitable end we all face at some point.  For some this occurs sooner, for others, later.  Nobody knows for sure when it'll happen to themselves, until it happens, and then, it's too late.

I thoroughly enjoy walking around the rest of the warehouse discovering as many hidden treasures as I can.  Once I've spent the majority of the day there and have had enough mind-bending and reality questioning experiences, I head for the exit, walk past the room that shines a spotlight on your feet that still has plenty of people running around, then joyfully open the door to walk out of the warehouse.  As I do there's a couple walking into the building.  I let them enter as I hold the door for them.

As they walk in, I loudly and joyfully ask them "Ya'll ready for this rocket ship ride?"  They furrow their eyebrows and look at each other confused.  I don't wait for a response and skip straight out of the Meow Wolf Denver into the sun that is now filling the thawed out parking lot.