13: It’s Alright, Baby Blue
1. I always thought “Suite Judy Blue Eyes” was “Sweet Judy Blue Eyes.
2. Kind of how I thought Rainer Maria Rilke might be a woman because of the middle name.
3. Moving through the stages of life and meeting each on its own terms is the supreme art of living — the ultimate test of self-respect and self-love. Often, what most blunts our vitality is the tendency for the momentum of a past stage to steer the present one, even though our priorities and passions have changed beyond recognition. – Maria Popova, The Marginalian
4. I used to collect and print out papers on the dangers of Nuclear Power waste or the War in Iraq. Now I print out and save essays on aging and death.
5. Sometimes I look for rabbit holes to fall down into, looking for landmarks that other writers and thinkers have left on a topic of particular interest.
6. Tea is my cup of tea.
7. I first learned about the Christmas Tea at Moonlight Manor B&B when I was taking pictures for the local paper of Floyd Christmas parade and saw the B&B owner riding a float dressed like Mrs. Claus and pouring tea. That got my attention. I spoke to her as her float went by and she told me about the Christmas Tea on Sunday. And here we are, my friend Katherine, my husband Joe and me sipping our cups of Moonlight Manor tea. See HERE.
8. Jolly or joy?
9. I named this Thirteen Thursday ‘It’s alright, Baby Blue’ before I discovered that the Dylan song I was thinking of is actually ‘It’s all over now, Baby Blue.’
10. A must hear song by the Bengsons: We don’t talk about dying. We don’t say the word. It’s not exactly like lying. We don’t want anyone crying… Listen HERE.
11. I replay the image of Dan’s last breath over and over in my mind. I know he consciously chose to be free of his failed body when it got to the point that the interventions were adding insult to injury, yet it also seems that we let him die, sort of like watching someone drown and resisting the impulse to pull them out to safety. Dan was in a safe place, and we kept repeating that to him. “You’re free now,” I said to him when the life supports came off. – From my book The Jim and Dan Stories.
12. “Attention without feeling… is only a report.” – Mary Oliver
13. “The kind who are kind are kind to all kind, not just their own kind, even the unkind.” My Dharmacratic friend Will
______Thirteen Thursday
December 13th, 2023 1:23 pm
I have to say, I, too thought the title of the Crosby, Stills & Nash song was “Sweet and not Suite”! I also never knew what the song was about until most recently, when I left my husband of 22 years! Now it all makes sense!
December 13th, 2023 1:36 pm
Wow! I had to listen again. I guess it’s a suite because it’s long with several parts. Sounds like Steven Stills was sad about his break-up with Judy Collins. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMJug2iz3NA
December 14th, 2023 12:32 pm
It’s getting to the point where I’m no fun anymore! But I still love your TTs. Aging is an interesting process, and we don’t do that or dying very well in this country. I suspect we would be wise to look back on older cultures and how they handled the topics (with much more reverence than we do, I dare say). I always enjoy your train of thought.
December 14th, 2023 2:06 pm
Well, “sweet” makes more sense in context of someone’s eyes! I see it’s Suite: Judy Blue Eyes, but we can’t know that unless we see it written and not heard.
December 14th, 2023 4:22 pm
There are so many songs that I’m CERTAIN I know the words to, only to find out later just how wrong I was!
December 15th, 2023 11:18 pm
I know I have been singing many songs out loud – with the wrong lyrics for years.. but the first ones who corrected me were my kids!! So either the others didn’t know or were too polite…