Last night (Dec. 31) I sat alone; husband in bed, dog asleep in husband's recliner, cat asleep on husband's jacket he left on the sofa, anyway, I was, if not actually alone, the only one awake. I was doing fine too: Reading all the Happy New Year messages on Facebook, texting with a daughter or two, trying to read a James Lee Burke novel, not drinking .... when I clicked on a link to a Dougie MacLean video. He was singing Auld Lang Syne and through the song the lyrics - and the English translation of those lyrics - are all that are on the screen. That's it: just a black screen with the lyrics in white print.
That's all it took and I was back in time remembering friends I hadn't seen since high school graduation in June of 1966. I thought about growing up with my brothers: one older; one younger. Spending time at my sister's house when I was in high school and she lived on the Alafia River. Now I'm not talking about long, drawn out, maudlin memories. These were more like flashes of memory. Maybe what we always hear about as "our life flashing before our eyes." I wrote my first blog post New Year's Eve morning so maybe these things were simmering right near the surface. But it shook me up.
Music does that to us, you know. A few notes of your high school fight song and you can feel the wind making you keep your hands in your jacket pockets and the cold bleachers freezing your behind on an autumn Friday night. Everyone has their own music memories. So why did that version of Auld Lang Syne hit me like a metaphorical brick? I'm not sure but MacLean has a beautiful voice and understanding the lyrics (finally) probably had a lot to do with it.
But this blog is not supposed to be a "stream of consciousness trip down memory lane." Nope. It's supposed to kick my old ass (jeez...icky mental picture...seriously. I own mirrors.) in gear to quit wasting my "golden years" ....which are actually more like "silver-plate years" or maybe "stainless steel...." well you get the picture. So - executive decision. Instead of a trip down memory lane, I've decided that song and that singer will be the impetus for my trip to Scotland.
Whenever the obstacles seem overwhelming, I'm going to listen to some of the Scottish music I've downloaded and picture the lochs and mountains of the Highlands. I'm going to plan a trip with great accommodations. I'm going to follow my doctor's advice so I, hopefully, don't die from blood clots on the plane trips. I'm going to ask for help planning tours that take into account my back problems etc. I'm publicly setting a time frame: between September 1, 2016 and December 31, 2017. God willing and the creek don't rise... and I can get my (even older than me) husband to actually retire, because he's a great traveling companion.
Watch this space.
Update:
Wrote this January 1, 2016 and now it's not quite 5 in the morning of October 3 2024. Failure! I still haven't made it to Scotland (and probably never will) but I'm still here! Older - yes. Wiser- probably not. Healthier - no. One reason I've not made it to Scotland - or anywhere else really. But that's a whole 'nother blog.
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