Ownership is a tussle. I read once that it takes up a lot of the oxygen in litigation. Property lines, brands, patents, and custody issues leave a lot of casualties. 

 

I have my own questions about proprietary rights. I have often used such language in regard to the children who were born to our family. In a crowded grocery store, where kids were running amok, it made sense to admit that they were mine. But at what point do I hand them the reigns? Or at least the birth certificates?

 

John went to the trouble to register our songs with some office in Washington, claiming possession. But does it really apply with music? It felt like they floated into my brain and came out of my mouth, without much cognition on my part. I feel less protective of them than I once was. If people hear them or sing them, it has very little to do with me. 

 

Are ideas subject to patents? Courts claim that they are, and yet it seems fuzzy. I have felt the bravado of autonomy, when I believed I came up with an original plan, only to discover that others had before me. 

 

The words embroidered on John's and my wedding clothes subscribed to the illusion. His pocket read, "She is my heart and I am her lungs." Which was absolutely what we believed. The words were in Latin, because we were ridiculous idealists at the time, but still.