Stain-glass Eyes

There’s no reason I have to believe in songs I hear.   Anymore than I have to accept a picture depicting my favorite flower or beach as absolute.   So if there’s a song that keeps repeating itself in my head, I question the words and judge whether I want to bring those thoughts into my heart, close them out or replace them with new ones. There’s nothing like a sad song to release some sorrow and open up some hard, walled up grief.   For me it releases some nugget of pain I’m holding in and I feel better when I sing it through. But, I want it to be true.   I just recently sang at a St. Patrick’s Day program. Parting Glass was the last song. This song is a goodbye. A message from a loved one (friend or lover) who is passing on. Of all the money that e'er I had I spent it in good company And all the harm I've ever done Alas it was to none but me And all I've done for want of wit To mem'ry now I can't recall So fill to me the par...

“What if...” is an interesting voyage. When go into that murky muck, sometimes it gets a bit dangerous.   As my therapist says, “We can prefer what an outcome will be, but demanding it isn’t going to make it any more likely to happen.”   It just creates more disappointment when our desires or expectations aren’t met.   If we think in terms of what could have been - the “If”- it seems like a waste of energy. I saw a woman at the YMCA the other day and I talked to her when she finished her workout.   She was smooth and athletic in the water, but once she got out of the pool she was having trouble bending to get her things from the edge the pool.   I asked her if she needed help.   She groaned in pain as she bent slowly down to reach her things.   With a smile she said, “I can do this.” “I hope it wasn’t an accident that caused all the pain,” I asked after I gave her a thumbs up. “Yes, ten years ago,” she said. She ...