My Happy Place

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  “The floor was carpetless. The whitewashed walls were in parts scrawled over with strange diagrams, and in others covered with shelves crowded with philosophical instruments, the uses of many of which were unknown to me. On one side of the fireplace, stood a bookcase filled with dingy folios; on the other, a small organ, fantastically decorated with painted carvings of medieval saints and devils. Through the half-opened door of a cupboard at the further end of the room, I saw a long array of geological specimens, surgical preparations, crucibles, retorts, and jars of chemicals; while on the mantelshelf beside me, amid a number of small objects, stood a model of the solar system, a small galvanic battery, and a microscope. Every chair had its burden. Every corner was heaped high with books. The very floor was littered over with maps, casts, papers, tracings, and learned lumber of all conceivable kinds.” “The Phantom Coach” By Amelia Edwards (1831–1892)

Live Life

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A few days ago we finished binge watching the show “Suits” and the last three days I’ve had the song “Viva La Vida” by Coldplay stuck in my head. Thanks for that, Harvey Specter. Actually, that song as the closer was the perfect fit for the character. Anyone who knows me needs no explanation when I say when I heard the first notes of the song, I almost wept. And the song has been playing royalty free in my head for days.
 
Each month I try to focus on a concept or theme and the last five years December’s theme is “Mortality.” As Coldplay continues to reverberate in my head, it became evident how the song and the theme complement each other. “Live Life” is how the title translates, and why not?

The song captures victories and losses, heartache and acceptance. It’s a song that captures the fragility of life, and being ok with that. “I don’t always have to be on top.” There are times when you must strike while the opportunity is hot, but everything eventually cools off and grinds to a halt. Life is lived in all moments in between. Heartache and all. 

But that’s not the end. Death is not the end at all. It’s a beginning. What once was becomes something else. Until the last moment arrives, the question becomes, “are you ok with that?” Or better, “what must you do to be at peace?” Someone once said that it’s how you live and love that gives life meaning.

Maybe someone needs to know that you couldn’t have done it without them.





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