I See Mean People

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Shower the People (by James Taylor) (duh) brings back such vivid, striking memories of my time caring for my best friend�s first child back when he was the tender age of four months. This happened in 1997, well before our government actually passed legislation that served to improve the lives of a good many of its citizens by allowing a new mother to spend the entire first year of their child's life with them. Hey, I can sit in my rocking chair many years down the road and say Yes, I was there the day the government actually carried out its mandate. The young kids all sitting cross-legged at my feet will not believe me, but I will continue to repeat myself until they start to see the light. Looks of amazement will register on their wee faces and rumours will abound concerning the fact that I may or may not have been a member of CSIS in my heyday.

Anyhow.

I�ve always hated songs that cause you to well up and get all maudlin about The One That Got Away or The One That Should Have Gotten Away But Instead Stayed and Filched Over a Thousand Dollars From Me in Cds, Clothes and Alcohol. At my age, I should already have learned how to build a bridge and get over it. (thanks, Dad) Behaviour like that is wildly negative and only serves to suck the energy and light out of my day.

Instead, lately, I find myself looking for the tunage that invokes strong sense memories of those times in my life when I was young, free and totally na�ve about the concepts of people who would screw me over without a thought or the pressure to perform in a myriad of situations in which I would soon find myself. Maybe instead of always looking for the hurt, I�m actually growing.

About time.

So, back to James. That song reminds me of those beautiful moments just before Danny fell off to sleep, times when I would lean over and hit Play on The Best of James Taylor. We would sit in the guest room with a gentle breeze lightly buffeting the curtains, filling the space around us with the indescribable Eau de Clean, Dry Baby. His chest quickly rising and falling, rising and falling would hypnotize me and I would shake myself back into the present 10 or 15 minutes later with a start. He was such a peaceful little guy, not at all like his little brother would be three years later. Simply being around him calmed and centered me to an extent; now, years later, I find I can relive that same much-needed feeling during those times when I fear my entire life is destined to come crashing down around my ears.

I won�t get into my assertion that I posses a degree of a Sixth Sense right now; let me say that I�m definitely so grateful for the first five this week.

(Just now I hear The Ramones playing, �I Wanna Be Sedated� on my streaming radio. It doesn�t harken back to anything specific but today, I couldn�t agree with them more).

Posted at 11:26 a.m.