Life is a funny old thing, isn’t it?
Ups.
Downs.
In between ups and downs.
Way up ups and way down downs and everything in between, like a perpetual elevator ride with a lunatic at the controls.
From sub-sub-basement (heartbreak, betrayal, misery, pain) to penthouse (rapture, joy, dizzy love with icing on top), we traverse at the whim of the insane controller up and down the shaft … often getting it as we do.
All I can say is … THANK GAWD FOR ELEVATOR MUSIC!!!
A few months back, when my lift was just beginning to emerge from the depths far beneath the earth’s surface, my dear friend Tisha put a CD together, and posted it to me. She titled it “Lowdown, Cheatin’, Lyin’ Man Music”, and included on it 18 songs specially selected for their capacity to either commiserate with my pain or prompt a new search for my own bootstraps.
Carrie Underwood’s, Before He Cheats is one in the latter category, and playing it full blast in MY new car … emphasis on MY … and singing along at the top of my lungs still makes me smile every time.
My great bud from back in high school days, Virginia, with whom I’ve had the amazing good fortune to reconnect after 30-something years, today sent me lyrics to a tune from “Phantom of the Opera” that she knew I’d find poignant this week:
Child of the wilderness,
Born into emptiness,
Learn to be lonely,
Learn to find your way in darkness……
Who will be there for you?
Comfort and care for you?
Learn to be lonely….
Learn to be your one companion.
Ever dreamed….out in the world,
There are arms to hold you?
You’ve always known,
You’re heart was on its own.
So laugh in your loneliness,
Child of the wilderness,
Learn to be lonely,
Learn how to love…
Life that is lived alone.
Learn to be lonely,
Life can be lived,
Life can be loved…..alone.
I’ve already posted the vid of my theme song when I start doing the Country show on Paradise FM next year … a song I listen to often that makes me laugh every time, and I can’t tell you how good that feels.
There are penthouse songs, too, of course, but I’m not quite there right now, although when my friend and co-worker on Adoption Under One Roof, Julie, sent me this link to an ASL version of “So Are You To Me” by Eastmountainsouth today during a long chat, I felt a jolt upwards.
As Bette Davis said in “All About Eve” …
Hold on!
We’re in for a bumpy ride …
This trip we’re on may not always be fun, but at least we can sing.
A collection of my short stories:
I'm in this one, too ...
And I'm in here, as well ...
Paradise Preoccupied 
And you’ll always have me to sing along with….although you may choose to do so with your own ears plugged!
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
Ah, Tish! You are SOOOO cool. And I am so lucky to have you!
aw, *blush*, cut it out, you’ll turn my head, you being single and all 😉
You know that the feeling is entirely mutual.
Ugh, time to go work with a group of seventh grade boys (insert eye roll)…..we’re rocking with synonyms and antonyms this week 🙂
Music is powerful stuff. I went through a period of profound depression a few years ago after my uncle died, and I lost my voice completely due to laryngitis that lasted about a month. I had a 30 minute commute to wor. I listened in the car to only Stevie Ray Vaughn, because I could never understand his lyrics well enough to sing along and so didn’t miss my voice so much when listening to him. [I normally sing along to everything.] His music was really a lifesaver for me. I still listen to it someimtes, when I want a rich musical listening experience.
love this blog
L.C.S.