Indelible Truth

Sunday evenings, after the daily living tasks are wrapped up and I’ve surfed to the end of the internet, I like nothing more than to lay in the floor with the lights down low and listen to a CD. Donning headphones in the dark is a sure way to get one focused on the music. Too often the music is background noise in our busy lives. It often takes a very striking song to make us take note, or more likely, we stopped moving and our inner monologue paused long enough for a good song to register as striking in its beauty, simplicity, or relevance to our lives or to the moment. So I try to make time for the music.

Tonight I am listening to the Winter Morning Wake-Up List. I had never been exposed to Tom Wait’s music and hadn’t much interest in the experimental sounds recordings, but I do like a lot of his songs from the albums, Mule Variations, Rain Dogs, and Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers and Bastards. It happened one October day in the parking lot of Toys R’ Us. My toddler nephew and I had our fill of following Grandma around as she looked for birthday gifts. We headed to the car, piled in, fired up the radio and set our eyes on the setting sun. “Long Way Home” came on and it fit our mood, stillness, and the sinking sun perfectly.

Sitting still was the key to noticing beauty – the beauty of the sunset, the song, and sharing the moment with someone you love.