No Day Like Today
May 2009
I saw a production of the broadway musical RENT recently. The music was as powerful as the MP3 version indicated, but seeing the show, hearing the songs in order with the actors and scenery, made the experience many times more powerful than just the music.
The storyline was mostly sad: it seemed all the young characters had AIDS and would regularly take “AZT breaks” and discover who else among them had the virus.
A part of one song, “Another Day,” begins with the male lead singing, “I should tell you, I should tell you,” then falls back to “another day” putting off telling the female lead what she is to him. This is followed by the female lead, singing a song that has a chorus, “There’s only us, there’s only this, forget regret or life is yours to miss, no other road, no other way, no day but today.”
The song has been in my wakeup playlist for some time now, but this morning, with the birds calling from the feeder on the balcony, the sun peeking under the overhang and over the blinds, the music seemed to be a good way to approach the day.
I never know why some words stick and others don’t but on the walk in from where I park to the department, I was struck by a fledgling that had fallen out of the nest, out of safety into the uncertain world of the ground with all its risks. The bird (Texas parkinglotus birdus) stood still long enough for a picture then found cover in the nearby shrubs. Safe for the moment, but clearly addressing the immanence of the day and the situation it found itself in.
I’m starting a new job this fall, so am stopping the job I’m in now and feeling a bit like the fledgling, out of the nest, not sure what the future holds on many fronts and have been feeling like I need to write more again to explore directions for my research.
I’d been postponing thinking about the future for a while since giving notice, not pursuing my exit interview, but the music gave me the push to lay out a research plan during my exit interview…face the challenges, that must be what the words mean, so both are done. I’m looking forward to the office moveout this weekend and writing to you all about the development of articles and manuscript proposals this next few weeks.
My personal future seems to be in a similar place, waiting to hear the response to a proposal, assuming it won’t be what I had hoped for, and trying to figure out a next step that does the least damage to all of us, but trying to be fair at the same time….“no day like today”…time to risk a call?…no answer….
Meanwhile Alastair Plantation is living up to its reputation as good ground with the corn crop well over knee high, the sunflowers not far behind; but the cherry tomatoes seem to be the favorite of the squirrels, so we may not see many of those this summer.
Had the first good corn of the season at the Mothers’ Fay gathering in Dickinson, Texas, this weekend. My host family made the full summer fare---hot dogs, hamburgers, potato salad, cole slaw, beans, corn and homemade ice cream. After a relaxing picnic in the back grove, some hammock hijinks, and the family portrait (I got invited in!), we watched the Houston Rockets come back from a playoff deficit without their superstars! They play again tonight….no day like today.
Take Care, be good to each other, find something beautiful around you…it takes you out of your worries.
enough