Gratitude: Day 12

Prompt: “An Ability of Yours”

Ability doesn’t equal skill or expertise, correct? I read this example: I have the ability to run. True for me that I’m physically able. I have the proficiency to run because proficiency relates to experience/skill. Also true for me because I’ve run many miles in my lifetime. I do not have the capability to run a marathon because I have not trained. The most true of all. At this moment, I would not be capable of running 26.2 miles.

I would say all of those apply to me.

In this sense, I have the amateur (for love, not with great skill) ability to:

Run

Decorate cakes

Write

Make creative holiday or party events

I have a knack (intuition?) for:

Remembering lyrics of 70s music

Recalling Bible verses but not verbatim

Receiving/sending messages to people who are also contacting me or thinking about me (they say)

Chatting with strangers (this is my job, actually)

Writing

Zero ability:

Math, except I constantly count things

Drive with ease on the interstate

1970s, ability, gratitude, music, Running, talent, tutoring

Gratitude: Day 8

Prompt: “A Happy Memory”

These are just a few, most from the last two years, except for the 40th Anniversary Tour of the Heartbreakers. My favorite concerts of the many I’ve been to over the years: Fleetwood Mac (with Buckingham), Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Sting. I’m going to see America again this year and Jackson Browne. Band I’ve seen the most: REO Speedwagon, Stevie Nicks. Traveled farthest to see: Sting in Las Vegas, Stevie in Ft. Lauderdale. Thank you, George, for all of the good times represented here!

Kansas

america the band, concerts, ELO, Fleetwood Mac, gratitude, kansas, music, stevie nicks, styx, tom petty

Gratitude: Day 3

Prompt: “A song you love”

TWO favorites

70s, favorite songs, Fleetwood Mac, gratitude, heartbreakers, music, songs, stevie nicks, tom petty

Gratitude: Day 2

Prompt: “What you find beautiful”

Well, that’s pretty broad. I mean, I’m just like everyone else, I can give standard answers like God, nature, kids, kindness, etc.

I’ll focus on one thing I enjoy each day, without fail: music. And I’m not a snob. I like the once-popular stuff; I fully admit it.

Every day, as soon as I finish praying, I hit the music as I get ready for the day. I have about 2 dozen playlists and choose music that reflects my mood that day, or I listen to my go-to station on Pandora, classic rock.

I love metaphors in lyrics, a good bass line, hearing familiar voices, remembering life at the time the song was popular.

I love vinyl LPs but most often stream because of convenience.

My earliest memories are couched in Beach Boys songs of my brothers’. The newest artists that I enjoy are Young Gun and Silver Fox.

My favorite years for songs are from 1970 to about 1986. In 1986, I became a mom, and I had bigger things to think about each day.

Now, at least internally, I’m back to the girl who slathered oil on her limbs and tummy, lay on the picnic table or lounge chair in the back yard and listened to her black transistor radio. Only now, older, more likely to be smearing sunscreen, lounging on my back patio to the music coming through my Bose speaker.

But the music is mostly, blessedly, the same.

When I listen, I’m a time traveler. Scotty beams me right on up. When I hear those soaring introductions, like Brad Delp of Boston, “I lose myself in a familiar song. I close my eyes, and I slip away.”

I visit events and people from my past, I appreciate the beautiful or funny lyrics and dance at some point every day. And for this joy, I am grateful.

70s music, beautiful, Brad Delp, classic rock, gratitude, music

Tom Petty

Why would I mourn a musician I never knew. It's a little embarrassing.

I've been thinking about this experience that I share with many.

Music helps us know ourselves in a way psychological tests can't touch. A psychological exam can tell you you're an introvert with fears regarding measuring up, but a good song can slice your heart right open to reveal those secret blackbirds taking flight, and more importantly, unveil how they got there in the first place.

Right there out loud–brashly, confidently–music sets free the innermost heartaches, fears and losses. Music declares personal victories and indescribable joy –indescribable, yet magically, those gifted poet-songwriters absolutely nail those emotions! How do they do that?

We often say that music serves as a touchstone for significant moments (the soundtrack of our lives) but it also anchors the less remarkable moments, like packing boxes for a move, plodding across a snowy campus, cruising in cool cars with nowhere to go, making up your face for a job interview, filling the midnight hours rocking a baby, lying on the beach, lying in a hospital room.

When everyone else leaves (the party, the date, your life) music is there to help you process your thoughts and rock you to sleep. It wakes you to a day of possibilities.

Music helps us understand others, too. You see your troubled significant other or your puzzling friend in songs. You approach them with a different perspective because your mind and heart have been opened up, tenderized.

The piercing lyrics express what volumes try to say. The music tweaks the pulse and the spirit. Music is a perfect storm, body and soul.

For me, only the Bible surpasses the kind of truth a good song can unearth and drive home.

And that's why I grieve a musician I never knew. It's personal, as they say. About as personal as it can get.

death, grief, music, tom petty, Tom Petty and the heartbreakers