I sing the blog electric...A Chapter by MrJodieI heard a song the other day while I was out just running some errands. The words touched me so I thought I'd post them here and dedicate them to the woman that I love.Thursday, January 13, 2005Taking You Home (Don Henley/Stan Lynch/Stuart Brawley) I had a good life Before you came I had my friends and my freedom I had my name Still there was sorrow and emptiness 'Til you made me glad Oh, in this love I found strength I never knew I had And this love Is like nothing I have ever known Take my hand, love I'm taking you home I'm taking you home There were days, lonely days When the world wouldn't throw me a crumb But I kept on believing That this day would come And this love Is like nothing I have ever known Take my hand, love I'm taking you home I'm taking you home Where we can be with the ones who really care Home, where we can grow together Keep you in my heart forever And this loveIs like nothing I have ever known Take my hand, love I'm taking you home Taking you home And this love Is like nothing I have ever known Take my hand, love I'm taking you home I'm taking you home Love is a funny thing when you're trying to explain it to people. The nineteen year old has been with her boyfriend for ten months and was talking about their future together. The thirteen year old has a friend that's now eighteen and keeps saying that she needs a boyfriend. Even the nine year old asks her Mom and me about our relationship, sometimes. I've tried to explain to all of them about how I feel about love. Love is something that is NOT a feeling. Love is much more than that. It's hard work, no matter how you look at it. It calls for action. It means doing things you don't want to do. Especially when you feel just the opposite. Giving of yourself when you feel like there's nothing left to give. But, fortunately, it also means finding joy in little things. An encouraging smile, a thoughtful concern when things are tough, a cold glass of something when you're thirsty or something to eat when you were too busy to realize you're hungry. Love can be painful but the deep contentment and self worth you can get from knowing you've done what's right, not what's easiest, can be the most rewarding thing of all. It's true what the Bible says about love in I Corinthians 13: 4-8 "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails." It's not just Jackie that makes me think about love. It's the children. Maybe them especially because everything I do for them and every time I realize they're growing up and will, eventually, leave the nest. Parenting is the most rewarding and, simultaneously, the most excruciatingly painful endeavour in the whole of human history. I agree with what Kahlil Gibran said in The Prophet: "Ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation." I want to see the children grow up and learn to live their own lives. To face the wide world, unafraid and prepared. The cruel irony is that I'll never truly be able to watch them do that without me feeling the pain and fear for them. I'll never be ready. But. I still plan on being the crazy, annoying guy screaming the loudest and telling everyone around me, "That's my daughter. Isn't she wonderful?" I'll finish off this flowery, gushy blog with a flowery, gushy poem for my girls. I'm a father And I do the best I can It's because of you That I want to be a better man I'll take on the world And shake my fists at the sky I'll teach you to run And proudly watch as you learn to fly Stuck here on the ground With a broken wing that will never mend My heart is flying because of you I'll hold you up while you ascend "Perhaps I know best why it is man alone who laughs; he alone suffers so deeply that he had to invent laughter." ~Friedrich Nietzsche © 2008 MrJodie |
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Added on February 23, 2008 AuthorMrJodieTroutdale, ORAboutI live in Troutdale, Oregon, a suburb of Portland. I'm currently working as a computer systems administrator for a manufacturing company in Vancouver and write only as a hobby. However, I've dreamed.. more..Writing
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