The Story of a Life

Although I don't listen to him often enough, I love Harry Chapin.
What a poet. His songs are beautiful tributes to events in his life and quite often his songs would translate into my own life as well.

Among my favorites, A Better Place To Be, Mr. Turner,and Taxi to name just a few.

But my favorite has to be Story of a Life. My husband and I always related most to this song. It's about a man who sees himself as traveling the world and writing about all the exotic places he's seen and people he will meet. But his life goes in a totally different direction. He always felt he was missing something until he realized what a great life he has, with a woman he loves. And that is the story of his life.
It's sort of like that saying "Life is what happens while your making other plans."

But the words are just so beautiful.

So what brought all this on you all are asking? I don't know. I had to drive up to Conneaut today to take my brother his truck. So I just grabbed a bunch of Cd's to listen to and that was one of them.

Also,my friend's husband passed away this weekend. I stopped at the funeral home on the way up to the lake. This is one of my friends who was really there for me when my husband died and I was feeling really bummed.

So I am driving up I79 with the music blasting. Singing this song at the top of my lungs.
And when he gets to the part when he realizes she's the story of his life, I always cry.
And then I thanked God Flo and I had husbands in our lives who thought we completed their story.
Unfortunately it was a short story, but their story none the less. And as nuts and Flo and I are, we were the story of Donny and Dan's Life, as they were ours.

Poor Guys!

Story of a Life

by Harry Chapin

I can see myself it's a golden sunrise

Young boy open up your eyes

It's supposed to be your day.

Now off you go horizon bound

And you won't stop until you've found

Your own kind of way.

And the wind will whip your tousled hair,

The sun, the rain, the sweet despair,

Great tales of love and strife

.And somewhere on your path to glory

You will write your story of a life.

And all the towns that you walk through

And all the people that you talk to

Sing you their songs.

And there are times you change your stride,

There are times you can't decide

Still you go on.

And then the young girls dance their gypsy tunes

And share the secrets of the moon

So soon you find a wife

And though she sees your dreams go poorly

Still she joins your story of a life.
So you settle down and the children come

And you find a place that you come from.

Your wandering is done.

And all your dreams of open spaces

You find in your children's faces

One by one.

And all the trips you know you missed

And all the lips you never kissed

Cut through you like a knife.

And now you see stretched out before thee

Just another story of a life.

So what do you do now?

When she looks at you now?

You know those same old jokes all the jesters tell

You tell them to her now.

And all the same old songs all the minstrels sang

You sing 'em to her now.

But it don't matter anyhow

'Cause she knows by now.

So every chance you take don't mean a thing.

What variations can you bring

To this shopworn melody.

And every year goes by like a tollin' bell.

It's battered merchandise you sell.

Not well, she can see.

And though she's heard it all a thousand times

Couched in your attempted rhymes

She'll march to your drum and fife.

But the question echoes up before me

Where's the magic story of a life?

Now sometimes words can serve me well

Sometimes words can go to hell

For all that they do.

And for every dream that took me high

There's been a dream that's passed me by.

I know it's so true

And I can see it clear out to the end

And I'll whisper to her now again

Because she shared my life.

For more than all the ghosts of glory

She makes up the story,

She's the only story

Of my life.

The last verse is my favorite.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHBb2zm7ago

Oh well, Flo and I have had our bouts of bad luck. Some day we'll get a break, I guess.

Lighter notes: We are having a special edition of Anger Management this week. We will be going out on Wednesday instead of Thursday.

That whole colonoscopy thing I'm doing on Friday, wouldn't be smart drinking on Thursday.

I will have fun, fun stories to tell about that experience next week, so stay tuned!