You Are the New Day.
You can make the difference every day.
One of my favorite songs (traditional) by a group I listened to often long ago.
Go out and make a difference and be involved in someone’s life. Don’t close yourself off to living. Life is short.
Having become a new owner of a dog for the first time ever in my life, I imagine there are a lot of people who will say “what took you so long?”
For most of my life from early on there were cats in my home. My mother was a “cat person” and we had several cats over my childhood, mostly they were my mom’s (one in particular was certainly hers alone) but I liked them (except for that “one”). It was something I became accustomed to. My dad hated them really. He saw no use for a cat. Once he figured out that one of the cats we had didn’t like the sound of the food blender, he spent a period of time with the base of it plugged in next to his favorite chair, and if the cat came near he would switch it on.
After my wife and I got married, we lived in small apartments where a dog was not very practical. At one point when we finally decided on a cat, we found out that it was not allowed in our apartment area and it factored into a decision to move.
So then…many cats later (and 4 kids)…my wife finally got her dog (did I mention she grew up with dogs?). So she became a dog-owner several years ago, and the dog was perfect for her. Just what she’d always wanted, but for some reason or another we never had gotten to having a dog in our family before.
The last cat I had was a big grey Russian-Blue type of cat, with a bit of tabby in him I am sure. What some may have called a “barn cat” I suppose. He would greet me at the door, follow me around, come hop up on my lap at the end of the day and sit next to my chair when I would be working at the computer. He will always be “my cat.”
Now a DOG. Just a mutt. But a dog that I will call mine. It’s part Border Collie/part Australian Shepard, part goofy. I am told that a mutt owner needs to know the suspected “parts”. I know I am not prepared for the higher maintenance of a dog but everyone says you get used to it. The walking, the cleaning up afterward. He was adopted from a dog pound. Saved one from the possible sad early ending of so many dogs that get neglected or rejected in their lives and end up there.
I know… I know…. There are “cat people” and there are “dog people”. I am trying to convert. Hoping he can teach me ( the old dog) some new tricks. A dog person. Yup. Working on it. Likely a life changer right?
Let go!
There is a lot of comfort in “status-quo”. There are reasons that you like “the way things are”. Being firmly entrenched in the pattern you are in can sometimes feel good.
A lot of people thrive on change. In fact for me when things DON’T change it kind of makes me think that something might be wrong. I know that sounds like I am always waiting for the “other shoe” to drop… which is sort of sad I guess. But change is okay too, it has its ability to provide the kind of variety that keeps life interesting, and makes one be more aware of things along the way.
But for others I guess there is that comfort of keeping things the way they are.
As my kids got older I think my wife and struggled for a long time understanding that our children were looking outward on their lives and not focused on the “family” that made up our history. We realized we could not center everything on them, as we had in their younger days growing up. Not that they didn’t want to be part of our family, just that they were looking for the next-thing and needed to work it on their own. After all that is part of growing up, and although the flexibility to change is more difficult later in life due to so many of the anchors and roots we put on ourselves. There is likely always the “next-thing” around the corner – if we were looking for it.
But those others who are comfortable, they aren’t always looking for the next thing. The needs of the next thing may not be evident, and they may be frightening or mysterious. But that comfort can be constricting. The next-thing may very well come without warning.
A job goes away, health, finances, catastrophe, or just a change in the simple pattern of daily life can be devastating and make that comfortable life seem to slip away so quickly it leaves no time to pause. That alone can be constricting. It can stall out what will need to happen next, it can lead to depression and denial.
So it is important (I think) to get accustomed to “letting go” things and taking courses in life that could be risky or unfamiliar. Letting go can lead to changes that you don’t expect, that you can’t even imagine.
Letting go is hard. No promises, but lots of promising prospects. Is it time to let go of something?
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The church bells have rung all day
And all the music has faded far away
And the clock runs time through
While waiting for the sky to blue
Washed out water-color window pane
The west is grey, a sign of rain
The day grows old and finally dies
Still waiting to see blue in the skies
Overhead above, the clouds still shining
Taking every ounce of wishes from the lining
Lies the golden sun in its darkness den
While waiting for the blue skies once again
I was a big fan of Laura Nyro back in the day, still am. “Stoned Soul Picnic” and “When I Die” and so many more. Her voice was angelic and mysterious in the same way. Inspirational. I wrote some music because of her, this was lyrics one of them. From “Love Songs for A Lonely Night” Summer 1974 MGert ©
There was something eerie about last night. Not sure what. It reminded me of this …which I wrote a long, long time ago. Seems he always comes to mind when things bump in the night.
Movements through shadows belonging to no one
Bright lights shining in quiet cold darkness
Sharp breezes blowing without a direction
Sounds unexplained that are heard out of sight
Echoes of footsteps that never come closer
Distant rumbles from lighting unseen near the trees
Shapes that are formed with the blink of an eyeball
Large looming clouds that light dull in the night
Heartbeats go faster and breath’s become shorter
As mysterious movements rush past in the dark
With eyes that follow but don’t have a face
The full moon once glowing sinks into the marshes
The night grows colder with death in the air
The mind plays tricks when Hitchcock enters-
“Good evening”, good night and goodbye to them all
From “An Even Break” by © MGert September 23, 1976
Tracks In The Dust 