Thursday, August 24, 2017
Putting My Musings In Context
By Donovan Baldwin
I try to put my musings in context, sometimes, at least.
I tell a story I've heard, write about something from my own past, talk about what I was doing when the thought came to me, etc.
Then I rattle on, and, somewhere near the end, I try to get YOU to understand WHAT I was really thinking about, and WHY.
Two days ago, I got some coffee at a convenience store, recently built on a previously vacant lot, and a memory popped into my head; a song from 1970, I believe, "Big Yellow Taxi" by Joni Mitchell.
There's a couple of lines in it that seemed to fit my thoughts:
"Don't it always seem to go, That you don't know what you've got til it's gone."
I had just almost lost something very precious to me, without even really knowing or understanding what I had, or, what I was about to lose.
Don't get me wrong, I really knew and appreciated what I had, only I had never actually believed that I "had" it...if that makes sense.
Well, that song popped into my head, because I had almost lost something very valuable, and, as I thought more deeply about it, "overthink" it, I guess (which CAN be good), I understood the truth of the thought. We DON'T always appreciate people, relationships, yes, even things, until they are gone, or about to go.
Anybody who's ever held a yard sale, knows that. How much more important is someone you care about than some old lamp you've had for years?
People, relationships, are even more important. Don't wait until they are gone to realize what it is you have right now.
I tell a story I've heard, write about something from my own past, talk about what I was doing when the thought came to me, etc.
Then I rattle on, and, somewhere near the end, I try to get YOU to understand WHAT I was really thinking about, and WHY.
Two days ago, I got some coffee at a convenience store, recently built on a previously vacant lot, and a memory popped into my head; a song from 1970, I believe, "Big Yellow Taxi" by Joni Mitchell.
There's a couple of lines in it that seemed to fit my thoughts:
"Don't it always seem to go, That you don't know what you've got til it's gone."
I had just almost lost something very precious to me, without even really knowing or understanding what I had, or, what I was about to lose.
Don't get me wrong, I really knew and appreciated what I had, only I had never actually believed that I "had" it...if that makes sense.
Well, that song popped into my head, because I had almost lost something very valuable, and, as I thought more deeply about it, "overthink" it, I guess (which CAN be good), I understood the truth of the thought. We DON'T always appreciate people, relationships, yes, even things, until they are gone, or about to go.
Anybody who's ever held a yard sale, knows that. How much more important is someone you care about than some old lamp you've had for years?
People, relationships, are even more important. Don't wait until they are gone to realize what it is you have right now.
Labels: Big Yellow Taxi, donovan baldwin, Joni Mitchell, relationships, writing
