Thursday, March 27, 2008

Today -- jcarolek

When I was a senior in high school, I, and my best friend, sang a song in my senior recital. She was actually a year behind me in school, but all members of the advanced choral class participated in the senior recital. Becky sang the melody and I sang the harmony. We are/were both sopranos so, the song we chose was one that suited both of our voices. "Today"....sung originally, I think, by John Denver.

Before the recital began, Becky and I were "running late," a not-too-uncommon occurrence for us. Becky and I still had our purses on our shoulders and we KNEW we could not go on stage with them. So Becky said she'd go put them up for us, while I told Mr. Gustin that we were "just about ready." Thankful, I did my part, and had confidence in her to do hers.

We sang our song and it was well received. Funny thinking about those words coming from the mouths of 17 and 16 year olds...LOL...they imply wisdom....something of which I am here to assure you, we were NOT major stockholders!

"Today while the blossoms still cling to the vine
I'll taste your strawberries, I'll drink your sweet wine
A million tomorrow will all pass away,
'Ere I forget all the joys that are mine today..........

.............

I can't live forever on yesterday's glory
I can't live on promises winter to spring
Today is my moment and NOW is my story
I'll laugh and I'll cry and I'll sing."

But you know, at that age, it was all about the "sound" of the song...and we liked it.

Immediately after the concert, I asked Becky to retrieve my purse (from her locker, was my assumption.) Imagine my surprise when she informed me she had "tucked our purses under a table in the senior lounge...." What??? Even I knew that was insane! Even in a relatively SAFE school environment in 1976.....

We ran down to the senior lounge and, as any sane person might have anticipated, our purses were GONE. Well, the long and short of it was that our purses WERE recovered a few days later, and the money (all I had to my name at the time) was recovered because I had never moved it from the bank envelope to my wallet and the thieves were hasty in their examination of the contents of the stolen purses. From me, they got a single one dollar silver certificate, which I had carried for a couple of years as my "lucky charm" and four pennies! LOL....the HUNDREDS of dollars in the bank envelope went undiscovered.

Why do I tell this tale? Well, this morning I awoke with that song in my head. the lyrics make much better sense to me more than 30 years later, and that song is forever tied in my memory to that perfect example of

Poor decision making and

Someone watching out over me!
So, today, while the blossoms still cling to the vine......

I hope you are ABLE to enjoy the strawberries, and the wine that IS the moment and let the moment live in you.

"I'll be a dandy and I'll be a rover,
You'll know who I am by the song that I sing
I'll feast at your table, I'll sleep in your clover,
Who cares what the 'morrow shall bring."

May your day be wonderful....and may your poor decisions be minor. And may you have someone "watching out over you!"

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