I remember listening to this CD during the winter, a cold one in Kentucky. The kids were still young. I worked part time and I was happy being a mother. It was the first thing I found that I loved beyond my limits. That was a simple sentence, yet when I saw it as it appeared, I was hit by the depth of the of it deep inside. I loved those cold days where we stayed in our jammies all day. We fought Gargoyles and watched old Abbott and Costello movies on VHS. I made lunches that had shaped sandwiches and laughed watching the two of them be BOYS. My sanity was to have music floating throughout the house. I seldom do country, but this CD seemed to settle well. Winter music is so different from summer music or spring. Fall is also distinct. But Winter always was a little slower, a little deeper. I don't remember what I thought in response to this CD, but it does stir me now. I came across it by doing some online reading. The good thing of no TV is that I do spend more time finding things to enlighten myself. No I am not searching for self help, but just reading about sailing or how to bake a tart. Sometimes I write things in my BB to look up later. One on the list right now is "Are there fewer lightening bugs now than when I was a kid?". So in a meander of some other searches I came across this song and decided to listen to it. I was thrown back to the days of my early parenting years. Today, I can hear the words and have time to listen and think about who I am. Who I want to be.
I think this song says it so well. I know that in the coming months I think my new yardstick question will be "Why walk when you can fly". I have been trying to think about a radical shift in how I live. I spend without thought. I am taking care of business, but my life is not leaving me room for my passion. I want to travel. More than anything I value experiences. It is my passion. I am not talking staying in a hotel. I want to have a more organic experience. SO this song reminds me...With the rest of the time you are given, why walk when you can fly". Do I really want the vase or do I want to have 8 dollars to travel. Do I really want a 40$ pedicure or Nicaraguan summer? I don't know what I will do yet. It is on my mind. This song helps me think about it with a point of view. I don't want to take when I could be giving. So I guess I have some thinking to do. Some more reading to do. I love the line in the song, "In this world you have a soul for a compass, and a heart for a pair of wings". So really, does that vase give me anything? I have to think what do I want, really want.
The last lines of the song make me think. It was 20 years ago I was raising children listening to this song as background noise in the middle of happy chaos. Now it reminds me it is time to be in a new happy chaos.
"There's a star on the far horizon
Rising bright in the azure sky
For the rest of the time you're given
Why walk when you can fly"
I went out tonight to see Tree of Life with one of my friends. I need to see it again. I have come home and my head is tossing information back and forth to find my take on a movie that is more like a book. I say like a book, because it seems littered with themes and signposts to help the viewer question themselves as they decide what they saw, felt, wondered. Each viewer will see something different, ask something different.
My friend did not care for the movie. For me it was perfection.
Clearly the beginning lays out that we have two main thoughts on life. We have God, Grace, and Love, (Creationism) and on the other we have Nature, Challenge and Logical Rhythms (Evolution). How you build your story will be up to the viewer based on their own lives and emotional path currently. The music above is the same. It has rhythmic circles, followed by billowy slowed passages, that come together in the end, intertwined. Finally,as in the music, Jack finds the balance between his logical constructing self and his emotional self...granting himself forgiveness. Grace. Love. God (Concept Fluid).
I wasn't sure about how his brother died. My friend seem to think he killed himself. I should have asked her why she thought that. I had drank a lot and I must confess although riveted...I had to sneak out for a ...slight break. Maybe I missed something. I thought he had been killed at war. I assumed that as it looked like the man delivering the envelope wanted to leave it and go. I assumed he knew it was "the telegram". I need to see the movie again now that I grasp it. I have so many things I need more thought on. Oh how I loved the way the film conveyed the pure love of a first born in the first months of life. It made me remember the awe of my love as a new parent. The film leads you to lay your own memories out sparking your own heart.
The use of water was interesting. The beautiful waves seemed full of life and promise. The same water brought death to a child. The views of the heavens in all the glory of Hubble photos sat next to the radiant sunflowers growing afield. Are these proofs of a wonderful God, or has nature wrought its self in perfection?
And lastly the movie seems to beg the viewer to question what does the choice of Grace or Nature mean to the individual. Making one look at their own circumstance for answers. If Grace is the path, we are part of something bigger than ourselves. We are created in the image of love and love flows through our lives (the mother). If we choose nature, we live in circles that spin out of logic, and challenge. We are somewhat insignificantly thrown in the mix. Random. Cold. (the father). The film seems to suggest Jack finds his balance. But first he had to look at his self and ask... am I who I want to be. His father has to come to terms with his own choices. It reminded me of the the song
Cat's Cradle", his son had grown up just like him. He had no great love or compassion for him.
Ahhh but these are just a few of the conversations taking place in my head. I have got to see this one again. Only I think I will wait until it comes out on Netflix. I want to see it with out the background slow snore heard in the theater.
And to my GF....you can pick the next one. : )
What I so wonderfully loved about this movie is that it has made me began a dialogue with myself.
