My husband dug into my old albums this week. He spent the morning humming a tune I almost forgot I'd written, much less recorded. It's a song called "Silent Conversations" that I wrote on my ukulele back in 2010. It's about all the ways humans communicate that don't involve language.
And man...it's fitting that this tune resurfaced right now.
It's been another doozie of a week here in crazy town, and I'm finding myself short on words to describe how crazy it is anymore. Sufficed to say, I felt like the world was crumbling around us all week. But somehow, here it is Sunday again, and the world is still in tact.
There were definitely some highlights this week, though. And none of them involved talking.
One night last week, my husband curled up next to me on the couch...it seriously turned my day around. The next day, a driver in Chicago gave me an ecstatic wave when she saw that I was carrying a ukulele, and I chuckled audibly, which made her wave even harder. And at my building, I got a thumbs up from one of my neighbors for picking up trash, so I gave him a big fat thumbs up in return. I could go on...I noticed moments like this all week.
Sure these are pretty small highlights, but I'll take em. When words fail us, we can still do something to make ourselves and others feel better. And some days, there's nothing more eloquent than a smile. I'm keeping that in mind as I head into next week. Tomorrow, I'll be driving to Madison where my new daughter will undergo another procedure for her breathing condition. Later in the week, I'll be working with my architect to finalize prints for the restaurant project that continues to thwart me. Then at the end of the week, I'll be practicing with my guitar player and trying to pull together some better arrangements for songs that I just can't seem to get right.
But still, there will be joy. I'm making damn sure of it. I've been too inspired lately not to let a little quiet joy into my life. And with that, I'm leaving you with this picture of my pre-linguistic boy, who understands far better than I do how to communicate kindness without words. (Full disclosure: he also understands how to communicate toddler rage without words, but I'm not getting into it today.) Anyway, I hope you have a great week, Reader. Consider yourself cyber-hugged from me. -Em
And man...it's fitting that this tune resurfaced right now.
It's been another doozie of a week here in crazy town, and I'm finding myself short on words to describe how crazy it is anymore. Sufficed to say, I felt like the world was crumbling around us all week. But somehow, here it is Sunday again, and the world is still in tact.
There were definitely some highlights this week, though. And none of them involved talking.
One night last week, my husband curled up next to me on the couch...it seriously turned my day around. The next day, a driver in Chicago gave me an ecstatic wave when she saw that I was carrying a ukulele, and I chuckled audibly, which made her wave even harder. And at my building, I got a thumbs up from one of my neighbors for picking up trash, so I gave him a big fat thumbs up in return. I could go on...I noticed moments like this all week.
Sure these are pretty small highlights, but I'll take em. When words fail us, we can still do something to make ourselves and others feel better. And some days, there's nothing more eloquent than a smile. I'm keeping that in mind as I head into next week. Tomorrow, I'll be driving to Madison where my new daughter will undergo another procedure for her breathing condition. Later in the week, I'll be working with my architect to finalize prints for the restaurant project that continues to thwart me. Then at the end of the week, I'll be practicing with my guitar player and trying to pull together some better arrangements for songs that I just can't seem to get right.
But still, there will be joy. I'm making damn sure of it. I've been too inspired lately not to let a little quiet joy into my life. And with that, I'm leaving you with this picture of my pre-linguistic boy, who understands far better than I do how to communicate kindness without words. (Full disclosure: he also understands how to communicate toddler rage without words, but I'm not getting into it today.) Anyway, I hope you have a great week, Reader. Consider yourself cyber-hugged from me. -Em
