Posts Tagged ‘Love’
Love Song
Recently I have become increasingly aware of when the sounds of a song show up in my head, seemingly out of nowhere (see “earworm“). Oftentimes, it turns out to simply be a result of walking into the boss’s office where there is music playing quietly in the background. I never seem to realize it is even on, distracted by the task at hand. But then, shortly afterward, as I tend to the next thing demanding my attention, I realize I am whistling some song that often happens to be something I would never choose to be whistling.
There have been enough other times, when I have absolutely no idea what could have triggered a particular song, that I have developed an interest in pinpointing the very first moment I become aware that such a song is in my head. It is a research project in its infancy. Don’t expect the results to be published any time soon.
Last night, as I was doing a quick tour down through my iTunes song list, I discovered that, as I passed by the name of each artist, one of their songs immediately appeared in my head. It was freaky. The songs weren’t always an obvious favorite, just an instant association that arrived as my eye caught the name scrolling past.
When I got to Bruce Cockburn, the song that popped into my head was “Live On My Mind” from his CD, “The Charity of Night.” It is a love song.
It’s your eyes I want to see
looking into mine
got you live on my mind
all the time
This month, Cyndie and I are approaching our 30th wedding anniversary. Most of the time, we collaborate on a joint gift for our anniversary. This year, in light of the pending 1,450 miles that will separate our living quarters, we selected a pair of iPad 2’s that will provide convenient visual communication. We ordered them online and are anticipating delivery on the actual day of our anniversary.
I fully expect that it will be her “eyes I want to see” in the year ahead…
Choose Love
Through the advances of modern technology, my son has been remotely controlling our computer at home to work out the kinks and chaos in our music and movie system. Last I was aware, we were experiencing some problem with lag, causing a movie to play jumpy, in fits and starts. Julian said he would try reloading the application next chance he had.
Days passed and I became distracted. During the week that Cyndie was in Arizona, training with horses, I decided to put on some music while working on a project. As I navigated the menu of the application, I discovered the lag problem appeared to be gone. Curious whether the video portion would also run smooth, I picked a random movie and clicked, “Play.”
It seemed okay. The longer I let the movie run as a test, the more engaged I found myself in the story I had launched. I ended up dropping any thought of my project and, unplanned, sat down and watched the whole movie. Throughout, I kept having the thought that Cyndie would have really enjoyed it. Last night, I got the chance to share the movie with her. I was right. She saw the very same things to like that had caught my attention.
The movie is, “Chaos Theory” (2008, Warner Bros.) with Ryan Reynolds and Emily Mortimer. Three things in particular that I liked: the choices made for casting this movie; the cinematography, for its use of scenery and timely artistic presentation of the subject for certain scenes; and the effective, and very likeable, soundtrack.
The overall story offers additional appeal for me, and I think is accessible enough to work well for a wide range of viewers. There is a twist of primary character that occurs right away that I appreciate, although it actually frustrated me at first. Ironically, I think that is part of the reason I ended up liking it later.
The main character has a bit of an average guy persona initially, then goes through some drama and angst, which speaks pretty universally to the trials and tribulations of any relationship. Ultimately, he finds a way to reconcile himself with his situation, and then offers a wonderfully profound lesson. I wish I had written this…
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…there are few things more chaotic than the beat of a human heart. Speeding up, slowing down, a pretty face, a flight of stairs… It’s always changing depending on what’s happening to us out there. It’s an erratic son of a bitch. But underneath all of that bump-a-ta-bump mess, there is, in fact, a pattern. A truth. And it’s love. The most important thing about love is that we choose to give it… and we choose to receive it. Making it the least random act in the entire universe. It transcends blood, it transcends betrayal, and all the dirt that makes us human.
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LOVE! We can choose to give it, and to receive it. One of the simplest choices amid life’s chaos that we should ever face.
Spring Love
Subtle as it may be, spring continues to make inroads. Winds blow. Thunderstorms blossom. Snow fades from view. Hockey season ends and baseball begins. And Paris-Roubaix, the queen of one-day professional bicycle races, one of cycling’s oldest races, held yesterday, in what turned out to be an incredibly exciting competition, brought out the ultimate in springtime emotion. Belgian, Johan Van Summeren, riding for the Garmin-Cervelo team, won the race, got off his bike, and asked his long-time girlfriend, Jasmine, if she would marry him. She said, “Yes!”
Spring is doing its thing.
Guerrilla Love
How many days has it been since a certain time of year when shopping and gift-giving filled the airwaves and people’s minds every waking hour? It comes, and then it’s gone. Now we find ourselves in January, the month after Christmas, where we are operating in survival mode to outlast the long nights and cold days. Why does the good will toward others, the glut of special gatherings, the bounty of festive foods… why does it all seem to fade so quickly?
I really hate to think that it could be a result of the lack of advertising a season. But, hey, who needs the marketers to tell us how to behave? We don’t need no stinkin’ season. I suggest the art of guerrilla love. Why wait for an ad agency marketed occasion to give a gift to someone you love? Be subversive. Surprise someone special to you with a gift brimming with true feeling and deep meaning for no other reason than because you love them.
But, hurry up! If you dawdle now, it will just look like you bought into the whole February holiday thing the advertisers are so fervently working.
Guerrilla love, because, seriously, love has no season.
What’s It All About?
I’m not convinced that it matters whether or not I know that angry Democrats rebel against Obama’s tax-cut deal with Republicans. Or that Google delays netbook plans for Chrome OS to mid 2011. How about my awareness of the US appeals court ruling that the Food and Drug Administration can only regulate “e-cigarettes” as tobacco products and not as drugs, and thus cannot block their import? There were 55 people listed in the local obituaries for yesterday, and I didn’t know a single one of them. I could hold a door open for an elderly man in a public place and have no idea that he was a survivor of the attack on Pearl Harbor. (If he was 18 when it happened, he’d be 87 years-old now.) I can interact with an employee at work and not have a clue they had been involved in a domestic dispute the night before. I have walked past people who are experiencing inner despair and not paused to notice.
Then, when I am all alone in the darkness, I sense it all. It’s as if there is a time lag and when I stop long enough to free my attentions from the distractions of the day, it all catches up. Energy doesn’t vanish, it is transferred from one form to another.
With luck, I overcome the urge to be overwhelmed with grief for the drama of our human foibles, and I come to rest in the simple solution of feeling love for all those who need it. Love is what it is all about.
Relative Something 