
Tonight as I cleaned up my sons’ play room…FUCKING A...I was listening to my iPod. Music is the one constant in my life that has always been there and never failed to soothe me during a difficult time. It just fucking calms me. As I made manageable piles of toys in my boys’ play room so in the morning they can clean up their toys…because I fucking refuse to put their sorry ass shit away that they literally dump and throw around, I was listening to one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard in my life. The strength, calm, and peace I felt (which is quite the goddamn feat considering what the mother fucking playroom looked like) was indescribable. I admit though, one major problem is that this artist was introduced to me by Mr. Gift. Do you have any idea how much that can fuck with someone’s moment of peace?
The song is by Ray LaMontagne and is called “Be Here Now.” Truly, a beautiful gift this man has. Really, it is one of the gifts Mr. Gift brought into my world that I still embrace and love. The song is all about focusing on your inner strength, looking for love and peace within yourself and concentrating on the right now.
So, here I am trying very hard to focus on today. Due to the fact that I am in the middle of a divorce, am still living with the “loving and good man” I am divorcing, I am surrounded by all the pictures and objects of a life we built together that is no longer, and have just broken up with the only other man I have ever loved. I don’t quite understand how focusing on the present moment is the best for my psyche.
However, I am trusting Ray LaMontagne’s beautiful words, my friend, Workout Barbie, and the calming, sweet, and (sorry to say) slightly-odd spiritual man on
Oprah…and am trying hard to concentrate on
right now. So, let’s see, my soon-to-be ex-husband is down stairs in his “bedroom,” the family room and has just finished helping me fold the towels (something he rarely did when we were not “divorcing”). I have now moved to my “cell,” the master bedroom, surrounded by more reminders of a life together lost, you know…as I’ve said time and time again, a “wake” in which you can never bury your dead loved one. So you can see how difficult it is to just focus on
right now. It is so easy to gravitate towards the shit. I mean we all do it. Someone farts, they tell you they farted, but we all take that one breath in; even though we know it’s going to smell. We naturally smell the shit, take in the funk, and acknowledge the gross. Therefore, I believe that in order for this spiritual crap to actually work…we have to focus on the GOOD that comes out of the shit…we all know that good DOES comes out (no pun intended) of shit. It’s healthy to have shit in your life. We need to have it, but we should never hold on to it, or we will become backed up with poison and get sick. So when I encourage my 3 year old “Apple Dumpling” to keep trying to poop (because he is eternally backed up) even though it hurts, I tell him to focus on how good he will feel when he lets go of it and how healthy it is for his body. I have him focus his thoughts on the good he will find in the shit (but we say “caca”).
When I look at my “shit,” the “wake,” etc. and think about the song, my friend, and the strange, sweet “
Oprah Man,” I am able to find healthy blessings. I find good in my shit. I am blessed in so many ways. I cannot change the past (what I already ingested). I cannot control the future (what I plan on eating…you never know what someone is going to bring into the office the next day). All I can do is be right here now with my shit and take in my life as it is…a “wake,” surrounded by loving and beautiful friends who hold me up when I walk towards the coffin and start to fall in a panic. I am surrounded by all my family; cousins and aunts that make me feel as close to home with my mom (who passed away 4 years ago) as I can get. This “wake” that I am at is full of music, all kinds, that somehow describe the feelings I am feeling at any given moment and help me for a split second feel like I can do this. There are children there, laughing innocently, crying over the most fucking ridiculous shit (like whether the black plastic toy is called pliers or tweezers, which eventually turns violent with some blood shed) and reminding us that life goes on (and making us wonder if it’s neither, and maybe it’s really a wrench?). Every now and then I get to leave the “wake” and visit the naïve outside world that thinks divorce is just a word and not a horrible feeling of loss. And although I have to come back to the “wake,” I have moments when I actually feel blessed to have had this relationship at all. I look at my “dead loved one” (the marriage) and am reminded of not only the sadness of the loss, but the beautiful memories that I have been lucky to have, as well as the difficulties I am lucky to have learned from. Some experiences I might try to ingest again. Some, I will pass on (like a bad batch of chili). I am here now, thankful.
So, this “potty mouth mom” who loves the word “fuck” and is living in a goddamn wake is trying so hard to be here now, to be present and to focus on all the good that is coming out of her shit. It is exhausting. Just so exhausting. I only hope that I wake up with this feeling in the morning and am able to carry it with me throughout the day.
Song Suggestion for the day: Ray LaMontagne’s "Be Here Now" from
Till the Sun Turns Black. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVhWBiXG_iQ to listen to one of the most beautiful songs ever written.
Don't let your mind get weary and confused
Your will be still, don't try
Don't let your heart get heavy child
Inside you there's a strength that lies
Don't let your soul get lonely child
It's only time, it will go by
Don't look for love in faces, places
It's in you, that's where you'll find kindness
Be here now, here now
Be here now, here now
Don't lose your faith in me
And I will try not to lose faith in you
Don't put your trust in walls
'Cause walls will only crush you when they fall
Be here now, here now
Be here now, here now
~G