Whatever you want to say about 2020, and there’s probably a lot to say, one thing is certain, for me anyway, my playlist for 2020 rocks. It could be my favorite all time. Though, 2013 was pretty darn good too.
I make a playlist every year of songs I discover during that year. It could be new artists, but it doesn’t always hold to those conventions. I also sometimes include older artists I’ve just discovered and/or deep dive tracks from albums I already own but may have not paid enough attention to. There are no real parameters other than it has to feel new to me, even if it isn’t something new. I’ve done this for years and years now. Initially I made mix-tapes on cassette recorded from the radio, then mixes recorded from CDs, then playlists on iTunes and burned onto a CD on a laptop. I used to make copies and give them as gifts to friends. But, with the advent of streaming services and a change in laptops that made it harder to burn discs, I switched to making them on Spotify last year. Sharing doesn’t involve making discs for people anymore, but I can still share, which I love.
I know 2020 isn’t over yet (just keep hanging on and getting through people) which means I’m still adding to this list, but I’ve been giving the 2020 list a listen quite a bit recently and I’m really into it. Just past the midway point, I guess you could say this is the mid-mix 2020.
Enjoy and know going in, it’s a mix for sure. My tastes are eclectic, so be prepared.
For those of us who live at the shoreline standing upon the constant edges of decision crucial and alone for those of us who cannot indulge the passing dreams of choice who love in doorways coming and going in the hours between dawns looking inward and outward at once before and after seeking a now that can breed futures like bread in our children’s mouths so their dreams will not reflect the death of ours;
For those of us who were imprinted with fear like a faint line in the center of our foreheads learning to be afraid with our mother’s milk for by this weapon this illusion of some safety to be found the heavy-footed hoped to silence us For all of us this instant and this triumph We were never meant to survive.
And when the sun rises we are afraid it might not remain when the sun sets we are afraid it might not rise in the morning when our stomachs are full we are afraid of indigestion when our stomachs are empty we are afraid we may never eat again when we are loved we are afraid love will vanish when we are alone we are afraid love will never return and when we speak we are afraid our words will not be heard nor welcomed but when we are silent we are still afraid
So it is better to speak remembering we were never meant to survive.
This is not an uplifting missive, as is usually my way, about kindness and joy. Though those things are still trying to claw their way up out of me.
I feel worn down.
This has been a tough few months for everyone, I don’t deny it. The virus, the violence, the continued finger pointing one side to the other (whatever topic you pick there are two sides), days of isolation and separation and fear.
I devour the news, the numbers, the opinions about the numbers. I look for rays of hope, possibility.
Right now I’m looking for rain. It’s been hot here, muggy, for several days. We’ve had bits of rain, but nothing cooling. We need a little cooling off. Doesn’t everyone?
We lost K’s dad a month and a half ago now. It seems like longer, and yet, not. We just lost our boy dog as well. Just a week and a half ago. I’m still sad about both. I picked up our boy’s ashes yesterday, trying to picture taking them to his favorite spot, a particular beach in Oregon, releasing him there, letting him run forever. I cried in the Jeep after picking them up, feeling the absence of him.
I’m trying to get up. Be up. Look up. I’m trying.
Today is another hard day, I can tell already. I’m not fit for consumption. Meaning, I wouldn’t visit me if I were you. I’m not exactly a bundle of joy right now.
I feel worn down.
This is a temporary thing, these feelings, the way I feel right now. I know this. Logically, I do. I know I’m going to bounce back or up or some other direction. It’s inevitable. Plus, with my usually positive outlook, it’s in me, my natural state, I know I will. I will.
But… I feel worn down.
I need more coffee. I need to pet the girlie. I need to hug my wife. She is sad too.
The world moves on and you grieve. You keep grieving. Wheels turn, people live their lives, they don’t forget, but they get sidetracked by their own stuff. Of course they do. They fail to see that you are still grieving and hurting and sort of stuck where you are. You put on a good face. You laugh appropriately and ask about their days and you mean it. And yet, you feel a sort of black hole inside. An emptiness. No one notices it. You try and camouflage it. You do a pretty good job.
This is not my only experience with death. I’ve lost grandparents who I felt close to and a father and a step father and another step father. I’ve lost cousins and uncles and an aunt. We lost my Mom’s best friend when I was in college. This is not my first rodeo.
There is no point to this post other than to say I’m feeling worn down.
Loss makes you think of other losses you’ve had. I am not immune to the feelings of it.
You look at people living their lives and you envy them. They don’t know you are living in a bubble where time has slowed down. Stop motion is what’s happening over here right now. You?
I don’t know.
It’s freeing to say those words. I don’t know. Much more than saying, oh, I know. I know. I know. I don’t.
You know what it feels like right now? It’s like this…
The other day a spider was running across a wall in our house. I grabbed a glass to capture it so I could release it outside. Yeah, I don’t kill them, I try to save them. Anyway…
I just got a picture in my head of a giant glass coming down over me. People can see in, I can see out, I’m not in distress inside the glass, not really. In fact, I have a nice comfy couch and a tv and a laptop and great music and food. I have my girlie and my wife. But I’m in the glass and there is this separation. I feel the barrier. I know it’s there, even if I can’t physically see it. I can even say hello and wave to people on the outside of the glass. They can wave back. But the glass is there. It’s there.
I need more coffee.
Writing helps. Gets it out of me and onto the page, as if I’m getting that treatment, cupping it’s called, where they put the hot glasses on you and it’s supposed to draw out the toxins. My toxins are getting drawn out.
I’m trying. I’m trying. I’m trying. We went for a walk earlier. We sat outside this morning with our first cup of coffee before the heat started to kick in. Yesterday I watered the flowerbeds and the lawn for three hours, moving the sprinklers when necessary.
I’m still living life. Laughing and smiling at times. Meaning it, feeling it.
We’re in another excessive heat warning today. We’ve been warned. It’s going to be hot.
We could go for a drive. Go to the drive in. Do something. See something. Be somewhere else. Today is not a good day for any of that. I’m afraid I’d take this with me.
I hate wearing a mask. Just saying. It’s necessary. But I hate it.
K is going over to the rental to meet the sprinkler guy in a bit. Regular life stuff. The system needs to be serviced. I’m staying home with our girl, who just had minor surgery and has a big incision that has to heal, because we don’t want to leave her alone right now. We need to watch her. So I’m staying here. That’s OK. We’ll hang.
Poor her. She is deaf now. She is old too, will turn 12 at the end of this month. She can’t hear, is getting weaker in her hinds, and is sad herself, still grieving her brother. She’s never known life without him. She keeps looking for him. I love her so, our little spitfire.
We commiserate together. She and us. Our tiny family of three.
I feel worn down. Which doesn’t change the fact that I need more coffee right now.
The Life of Things 