Feel Good 5 Friday … On A Saturday Night

Sometimes the week’s or day’s events harden you a little bit more and even with a weary heart you go on and you find the softness in moments where you can find them, the kind that take you back and you can see yourself in the mirror again.

Sometimes it’s life during a pandemic, sometimes it happens even if the pandemic didn’t exist. Jobs you don’t like, moments you have to endure, or toxic people that still try to poison your well with their words or actions

Bit by bit, pieces chipped away and all you’re trying to do is get them back.

But you find moments of strength that help you endure. The ocean serves as a great salvation, as do morning hugs and laughter from my kids, early morning runs, or punching sessions with the MuayThai gloves. Laughter because of a good comedian makes you feeeeeeeeel yourself again. The smile that you saw in pictures way back, makes an appearance and a sigh of relief fills your chest.

But when I can’t get any of that and I’m feeling off, I put on the playlist. Sometimes it’s the slower tunes with deeper lyrics that get me to turn the corner.

They build.

And that helps reconstruct some of the pieces in you that felt broken. Zac Brown Band is always a go-to for me and never lets me down, with all the albums I own, he gets his feel good tunes any time of day. And the Brothers Osborne have that deep soothing voice and cool melody, I fell for this song and it caught my heart. Love the build. I flashed back to Los Angeles Azuuuuuuuuuules because they jam with other artists to make better sounds. My Blue-Eyed souls, the ones that bring it every time, my Hall & Oates, whose concert rocked epically, always get me with this song. And it’s a sad song, but it makes me feel better. Makes me feel. Just the sound of their voices. Bob Dylan’s son with his Wallflowers, when I hear this tune I need to stop and let it sink in. That opening and that vibe they got going, it reverberates and changes my frequency.

And that’s what needed.

These songs make me feel something different. Sometimes it’s a time machine sending me back to a moment or place that made me smile or feel good, sometimes it’s the they-probably-wrote-this-for-me reflection, and sometimes it’s the wishing part of the song, the one in the pocket between the chords, after the bridge that makes you feel connected.

I was in the midst of all that and it helped me breathe a little deeper. Feel-good vibes tingling my heart and building the part of me that’s important. Growing.

Buen Camino, my friends!

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Brothers Osborne — Stay A Little Longer

Zac Brown Band – Homegrown

Angeles Azules – Acariname

Wallflowers — One Headlight

Hall & Oates – She’s Gone

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Getting Through The Twilight Zone

A night of smiles, laughter, celebration, and pride. A night of feel-good feelings to be remembered all year long never happened.

I turned to Plan B ready to find the silver lining, to have a good night despite the bad taste in my mouth. A quiet night of resurgence that included a comeback story waiting to happen was foiled by a bad conversation that exhausted my being. The DMV-clerk-type-of encounter … that kind of exhausting.

Bad conversation people you just need to stop.

I mean do you hear yourselves when you talk? I feel like I’m trapped in the Twilight Zone, the Pig Nose episode where nothing makes sense. This circular logic of bad conversations does nothing for my sanity, it makes me sigh louder and rub my face harder.

So I zoned out. The rest of the words, I chose not to hear them, I just let them think what they wanted to think. I let them have the last word because that’s what mattered to people like this … having the last word. It’s a power thing I guess.

I had given up the possibility of a rational conversation when I came to the conclusion that I could not say anything to make this person see the light and change their mind. Normal people might say … hey why don’t you say how they make you feel, even though you tried and tried and tried different approaches, why don’t you try again until they hear you?

To which my reply would be … there are no hearing aids sophisticated enough to improve these listening skills.

Some people are just permanent residents of the Twilight Zone.

So after a couple pieces of chocolate failed to remove the funk hanging over me I closed my eyes for  a bit and imagined that the A-Team was really real. I tried to think of a way to contact them, but remembered newspaper circulation is down.

And so I closed my eyes and thought of Plan C to help turn things around and during this meditative state, I remembered a moment in the day. I saw the sun hitting the outdoor skating rink and my orange skates cutting through the ice. I swayed from side to side and found the magic. I remembered Bruno Mars and Andy Grammer blasting through the outdoor speakers.

I closed my eyes and remembered that.

I was grateful for it. I thought I felt that magic today despite knowing what the night was supposed to be. Then after a bad conversation … I was still able to close my eyes and see the smile on my face while a zig-zagged on the ice. I had one moment today … today when I thought I would not have any … I had at least one and it carried me through the Twilight Zone.

Buen Camino my friends.

 

 

 

Fourth of July Sprinkle-Worthy Moments

All you want to do on the Fourth of July is live like a character featured in an amazing line of a great country song sang by Garth Brooks, The Zac Brown Band, Tim McGraw, Allan Jackson, George Strait, Blake Shelton, Sugarland, Faith Hill or Trisha Yearwood.

You want barbeques, family, good times, good music, tasty drinks, relaxation, fireworks and a moment of appreciation for the soldiers out there in the world.

You wanted Zen moments on a hot summer day.

The top five things you did not want …

5. You did not want to go to the market for the third time in one day because someone forgot the tomatoes.

4. You did not want to spend time scrubbing toilets in the afternoon.

3. You did not want to go to your in-laws.

2. You did not want a cranky toddler who was in full-blown crazy mode for two hours because someone “forgot” when her nap time was while they were at their parents’ house … the same nap time she’s had for the past three years. The same.

1. You didn’t want to come home to find someone in your family had cooked 10 out of the 12 burgers in a frying pan … on the stove. Not on the grill … you know the BBQ grill.

You needed a life-preserver because this day was looking nothing like a country song.

Who or what saved it in the end?

Being able to still watch the matinée showing of Earth to Echo with my son.

Being able to eat a hamburger … the one cooked on the grill.

My iTunes playlist that featured Five O’Clock Somewhere at exactly the right time.

Cold Framboise.

Kids with sparklers and glow in the dark neon glow sticks.

Ben & Jerry’s.

Chocolate and vanilla cupcakes with buttercream frosting and patriotic sprinkles.

 

🙂

 

Hope your Fourth of July had sprinkle-worthy moments.

🙂