FILLING THE MOM VOID

Since my last post, my life has changed in a most unwanted way.  I had to say goodbye to someone who has been in my life since I was born...my mom.  Everything they say, the old cliches, are all true.  You truly feel like you have lost the only person in the world who really cared about you.  No one was ever any better friend, bigger fan, or stronger ally than my mom.  Who, or what, can fill that void?  The answer is...no one.  My mom was someone who learned to fly a plane, but managed to keep her kids grounded and down to earth.  Someone who let her kids leave the nest, but never ventured far from it herself, always being there for everyone.  She was both a rock and a soft place to fall.  She always seemed to know when to call...she always seemed to know when to help....but she never tried to tell you what to do, or how you should live your life.  She supported you in whatever you wanted to do.  Her life was an example that I hope I always follow.  No, there will never be anyone to take her place.  All I can do now is to honor her memory, and try to be at least a little bit more like her.  After all, that's what moms do.....teach you to fly and then let you take the controls. It is at that time that you must fly on your own.

Music is a Time Machine,

HAVE YOU NOTICED that music is the best time machine that you could ever have?  The other day I was in a restaurant with my sister and my niece and an old familiar song "The Long and Winding Road" (by the Beatles) came on the radio.  The music flooded the room and my memories.   Suddenly, it was 1970 all over again.  I was driving my Nova in the cold Indiana snow.  It was late and I was hoping to make it home before my Mom woke up from her "nap" that she always took while she was waiting for me to get home.  I remembered who my friends were, and what I was doing when that song came out.  It was a transitional period for both the Beatles and myself.  That song was the last single they recorded as a group, with the announcement of their breakup following soon afterwards.  For me,  my friends had all moved on after high school and I was in the throes of my first real job.  My sisters (who were previously joined at the hip with me) were both married and out on their own, and I was forced (though reluctantly) to make a new life on my own.  With the help of Roy Orbison, Gene Pitney, and Elvis, I walked into the next stage of my life.  Songs and music have always been a time machine, a way of bringing back the past for so many people.  Before I left the restaurant, another of my favorite songs filled the room...."He Ain't Heavy...He's My Brother."  I thought I was in Heaven....turns out it was just a time machine.