Music

What can you say about music that hasn't been said? From my point of view and from what I hear, music means so much to so many. It is taken personally as friend and a foe, a joy bringer and prompter of pain and energizer. With music an atmosphere is created, the mood is set, motivation on the ready. The emotional aspect of music brings one to tears as easily as the cheers, the quiet, calm memory to emotions of elation, excitation and exhilaration when it feels like your heart wants to jump out of your chest. Just as certain sad songs evoke sorrowful memories, longing, loneliness, the music, melody or lyrics recall the very moments of life we were living when the song came out. The stories told in song are powerful, poignant, corny and compelling as life itself. Lyrics dress-up the music to create such a compatible composition while the instruments add dimension and layers of texture to a song, throw in a great voice and magic takes place. Musical recordings are awesome gifts and a great companion through the years, an exciting place to go for quick sound bites or to take along on long road trips, to keep you company and facilitate inspiration.

Music is like a comforting blanket you wrap yourself in, you fill your head and your heart with the warmth of the sounds, the instruments and voice may be an irresistible chance encounter you hoped to get to know and remember forever. Music is like an old and new friend or member of the family, an entity, spirit, a thing that has always been there in good times and bad, the soundtrack of our own story plays on with a playlist that includes oldies, sentimental, festive, fancy, edgy, mellow and maniacal melodies. It's all there, the soulful, heart stopping, tear-jerking, dance-inducing, thought provoking, melodic, always laden with rhythm to get my attention.

I can not imagine a world without music even though there are times when my brain is on overload and does not know what to do with another note. The essence of music flows, softly or sternly bringing about overwhelming feelings, it can be too much as the sound saturates the air with a liquid type matter that makes me feel like I am drowning in it. The slightest sound of music can keep me awake or wake me up while a lullaby puts me to sleep, depending on the volume, the tune and if I am tired or not. Music is as reliable a relationship in my life as the moon, the sun and Holy Spirit. A matter of fact, emotional connection and partnership that I am happy to say; will always have a prominent place in my life.

Shadows

Darkness then light, the difference between the variation of grey and black, off white pale and soft. Shadows bounce off the wall and roll on the ground, flutter, lay flat, perpendicular, parallel, inside out, upside down, over and under, surrounding us by the light of day around the corner into the empty space. Shadows in the night like whispers in your ears, a comma at the end of a sentence that continues on it's way until it reaches the end with the appropriate punctuation mark that indicates how the line ends, like a gentle reprieve from one thing to the other.

The angles begin and end in geometric ways in a vague formless subtle manner. The edge of darkness bleeds into a soft illumination or a stark contrasting nondescript color. Shadows are everywhere and created by direct and indirect light, space, form, matter, motion and beyond.

A shadow mimics itself, it duplicates, follows and clings to it's own reflection. A metaphor for life, death, the lively, lonely, lost, large, little or big love. Our shadow in heaven longs to touch our earthliness without disturbance, without, so much as a hint, a shadow makes the connection in such a way, we do not understand but it's neither a good thing nor bad, a shadow's only concern is to be a shadow. No wrong way to go about the business of being a shadow, only to be best of the best that a shadow can possibly be.

Heart & Soul

To say goodbye to someone you have known forever, someone who was a permanent fixture in your life even if there were years you saw each other almost never... it is a time when one reflects on the goodness, the love, respect, admiration and stories about the life that passes on to another realm.  The transition is sad but sacred as faith indicates after life on earth the spirit thrives in a perfectly peaceful place of existence.

The connection transcends time and space as the love is not diminished but remains in tact and in a state of grace, as if the connection is strengthened with the awareness that we now have greater access to the heavenly elements, powerful, unrecognizable to the human eye but felt with the heart and soul, spiritual connections we can not even fathom yet reveal themselves to us by way of abounding quiet and not so quiet blessings.

And so we say our sad goodbyes to prima Marian Romero, good woman, salt of the earth with a big heart and generous nature, funny, sassy and a safe place for me to land when I was bouncing off the wall with youthful exuberance and mom allowed me to hang out with. We were good paleez.

Love you Marian, rest in peace.