BLOG SLOG – BACTERIA

            It may not matter to you, it certainly hasn’t to me, the life phases of bacteria. “What’s to know about bacteria?” say we, with a shrug of a shoulder; we who know close to nothing about it. 

Get this, the number of bacteria on earth is estimated to be five million trillion trillion, but who’s counting. And who cares, as long as they don’t block the parking space we mean to occupy. Granted, we can blame bacteria for such things as anthrax, abscesses, whooping cough, Lyme disease, botulism, gangrene, diphtheria, dysentery, ulcers, pneumonia, fevers, some sexually transmitted diseases, cholera, and plague; but come on, bacteria are responsible for aiding digestion, for yogurt, buttermilk, cheeses, pickles, soy sauce, vaccines, and vinegars. Really now . . .

I’m not in the habit of blathering about bacteria but when I heard the brilliant Sir David Attenborough (who, by the way, introduced both colored TV and Monty Python’s Flying Circus to England) say that the first of four phases in bacterial growth curve is a “lag phase,” I immediately thought, “blog slog,” a lag phase if I’ve ever experienced one.

If I understand correctly, when scientists put bacteria in an appropriately closed culture, providing the nutrition and energy source needed for survival (our guts serve nicely), the first thing bacteria did was, well, little or nothing. When introduced to a new environment or condition, it first gets quiet, and does only what it must do while it adjusts. This first of four phases in a bacteria growth curve can last anywhere from an hour to a few days. It reminds me of grief. Quiet. Little or nothing achieved for a while. Adjust. It’s what needs to happen before new growth occurs.  

Did I think instantly of “blog slog” when I heard the term “lag phase”? I did. I knew I could write about my friend dying (part one), I struggled, started over a few times to get the dingy story out of my head, and on to paper (part two). But I was adjusting to a new condition –the absence, the death, of a dear friend.  I could feel the slog phase coming on. Phase one. 

Phase two? Growth. Vigor. Renewal. 

Rest first. Get used to the new situation. Expect change.