Friendship – Page 2 – chosenperspectives

SongLyricsSunday-Gratitude

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Well, I think this is a great theme for this Thanksgiving week (and not at all “cheesy” Helen)!

I knew my song immediately…well, my first song anyway.

You know when that question shows up “If you could have ONE album to play while stranded on a desert island, which one would it be?” This comes from my choice. Don Henley’s Inside Job. His opus. His Therapy album. His masterpiece.

This song gave me great comfort when a 25 year long business (and friendship) partnership ended. I had to fight hard to not focus just on the loss, and move into gratitude.

I hope the video works. It is the only one I could find of Don Henley actually singing

My Thanksgiving

http://v.yinyuetai.com/video/117860 (copy and paste and wait just a second…it will start)

My Thanksgiving

Lyrics by Google Play

A lot of things have happened
Since the last time we spoke
Some of them are funny
Some of ’em ain’t no joke
And I trust you will forgive me
If I lay it on the line
I always thought you were a friend of mine

Sometimes I think about you
I wonder how you’re doing now
And what you’re going through

The last time I saw you
We were playing with fire
We were loaded with passion
And a burning desire
For every breath, for every day of living
And this is my Thanksgiving

Now the trouble with you and me, my friend
Is the trouble with this nation
Too many blessings, too little appreciation
And I know that kind of notion¡ªwell, it just ain’t cool
So send me back to Sunday school
Because I’m tired of waiting for reason to arrive
It’s too long we’ve been living
These unexamined lives

I’ve got great expectations
I’ve got family and friends
I’ve got satisfying work
I’ve got a back that bends
For every breath, for every day of living
This is my Thanksgiving

Have you noticed that an angry man
Can only get so far
Until he reconciles the way he thinks things ought to be
With the way things are

Here in this fragmented world, I still believe
In learning how to give love, and how to receive it
And I would not be among those who abuse this privilege
Sometimes you get the best light from a burning bridge

And I don’t mind saying that I still love it all
I wallowed in the springtime
Now I’m welcoming the fall
For every moment of joy
Every hour of fear
For every winding road that brought me here
For every breath, for every day of living
This is my Thanksgiving

For everyone who helped me start
And for everything that broke my heart
For every breath, for every day of living
This is my Thanksgiving

Song

“Tell us about a piece of music that stayed with you.”

I love that Word Press gives us all these challenges! Not because I can’t think of anything to write about, but because it helps me narrow topics down!

The first time I heard the song A Life Uncommon by Jewel, I was moved to tears.

(small disclaimer…the last few seconds of wording on this particular youtube are about Christianity and though I consider myself part Christian, I am also part Hindu, part Buddhist, part Jewish, part Unitarian Universalist and part “still working it all out”.)

I loved the song and could not stop thinking about it!

Such inspirational lyrics!

Don’t worry mother, it’ll be alright
And don’t worry sister, say your prayers and sleep tight
It’ll be fine lover of mine
It’ll be just fine

Lend your voices only to sounds of freedom
No longer lend your strength to that which you wish to be free from
Fill your lives with love and bravery
And you shall lead a life uncommon

I’ve heard your anguish
I’ve heard your hearts cry out
We are tired, we are weary, but we aren’t worn out
Set down your chains, until only faith remains
Set down your chains

And lend your voices only to sounds of freedom
No longer lent your strength to that
Which you wish to be free from
Fill your lives with love and bravery
And we shall lead a life uncommon

There are plenty of people who pray for peace
But if praying were enough it would have come to be
Let your words enslave no one and the heavens will hush themselves
To hear our voices ring out clear
With sounds of freedom
Sounds of freedom

Come on you unbelievers, move out of the way
There is a new army coming and we are armed with faith
To live, we must give
To live

And lend our voices only to sounds of freedom
No longer lend our strength to that which we wish to be free from
Fill your lives with love and bravery
And we shall lead…
Lend our voices only to sounds of freedom
No longer lend our strength to that which we wish to be free from
Fill you lives with love and bravery
And we shall lead a life uncommon

“No longer lend your strength to that which you wish to be free from.” WOW!

Then I heard the song at the Unity church by this wonderful duo, Garnett and Beverly. Oh man, can these two SING!!! http://www.garnettandbeverly.com/

After hearing them sing it, I decided I wanted to EARN having this very song be performed at the party I want folks to have when I die!!

But there is another chapter.

Many years ago now, I had the miraculous experience of reuniting with my daughter, Pamela, having given her up to be raised by the most wonderful parents. As I was getting to know her, I did what many of us do when we first fall in love, and boy, did I ever fall. I made her a playlist of all my favorite songs…songs that I hoped would tell her about me. (Pam is truly amazing, and a talented singer herself, so I thought music would be a great connection!!)

The song, Life Uncommon, was the first and most important song on that playlist, with the disclaimer that I was still learning to live this way.

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Three generations…my mother, my daughter, Pamela, and me, all around the same age. I couldn’t see any resemblance between my daughter and me but could see it between Pam and my mother.

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Me and my birth daughter!

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Cousins, their first visit…Pamela’s daughter and Michael’s son. How cute are they? watching something on TV that has Julius feeling protective…

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Me with my son and his sister together, a dream come true!

And giving me….a life uncommon….

Admiration for Inherited friendship

Admiration The theme this week for WordPress Photo Challenge is to show someone we admire and tell about them.

So here goes….

I can sometimes be overly protective of my friends. Occupational hazard? Oldest child syndrome? Personal grandiosity? Who knows but let me just say, it took me a while to get on board with my very best friend when he finally found his heart-head-soul mate!

I mean, I had watched him make some lousy girlfriend choices during our 39 year long best friendship including choosing ME, for about a minute, in the very beginning. (Thank god we both knew to nip that sucker in the bud. Oh man, the friendship, the partnership, the family times we could have missed out on….)

Anyway, a few years ago, he brings home this woman and even though right away, he thinks she’s “the one”, someone had to remain skeptical until she proved herself worthy! Right?

Poor woman. I wonder if she even noticed those piping hot coals we all raked her over. Probably not, because my best friend’s family (and me) all have way too much class to do that in any kind of noticeable way. As for Patty, describing her as having grace and class, well let’s just say I now know what “woefully inadequate” means.

But let me tell you, she’s all the way “in” now. I just love this woman. She is exactly who she says she is. She is fun and funny and generous and patient (especially with my friend). She is stunningly beautiful and exceptionally smart…maybe even smarter than my best friend, but do NOT tell him I said that. He has a fairly healthy ego, that one.

Turns out she and I grew up just blocks from each other in San Diego and while I sat at the beach, dreaming of becoming a people helper, a few years later, she was at the same beach, writing like crazy, rehearsing to become a famous writer.

Her list of achievements on the road to her youthful goal is long. She was a “professor of bilingual education, a school principal, and wrote teacher guides, educational texts and curricula.”

That last is an excerpt from the bio on her award winning NOVEL!!! Just one of her books! Check her out!!

http://www.patriciacleary.net/

http://www.patriciacleary.net/blog/

She has accomplished so much more and survived unbelievable challenges but those are her stories to tell, not mine.

She and my best friend, along with me and my James, have created a permanent friendship, a partnership really. We are building a home together, a retreat “compound”, for ourselves now and as a legacy for our children and their children.

This is the four of us after a hard day’s work building Casa Esmeralda.

I’m so happy for my best friend, but even happier for myself.

Look who I inherited!!!

And THIS is the same woman!! Fearless, determined, amazingly strong!

Mutual Admiration Society

Admiration on chosenperspectives for WPC

Undying admiration and gratitude for my long, LONG-time friend, Karuna. Our paths (in probably 30 years) have crossed, paralleled, drifted apart and re-linked more than a few times.

I won’t tell you my version of her whole biography. You can read that for yourself on

https://livinglearningandlettinggo.wordpress.com

But you won’t find a more courageous, adventurous, giving, dedicated, ethical and loving person, teacher, friend and mother.

Let me just say that what I am currently admiring most is her seemingly endless patience with me as my “Blog Coach” (and butt kicker)! Thanks Karuna for pushing (encouraging) me to do a WordPress Blog. I’m loving it and all the wonderful, talented, amazing people I am meeting.

PS Before you complain about the photo, Karuna, I think it captures so many of the things I listed above. You are truly a beautiful person!

Admiration

	Carol Peringer on The Big Goodbye
	lenleatherwood on A Photo a Week Challenge…
	james fletcher on Checking in
	choosingmyperspectiv… on Procrastination
	DailyMusings on Procrastination