FAR AWAY

My friend Chris, when referring to music, used to say something to the effect of "there's only 12 chords, everything is stolen."  What he meant was that of course things sounded alike. It's hard to be truly creative. This was 30 years ago. I imagine with time, distance and seemingly infinitely more songs written, that this is now more so the case. Sometimes though, we don't even bother to change the progression.

The other day I was listening to a story and the writer was lamenting the distance that had grown between she and her father. She lived in upstate New York, he in Southern California. Then he died from COVID and was just gone. She said something to the effect of, when he was in California and she hadn't seen him for 20 years, he still occupied some sort of space, that "far away was still somewhere." I damn near pulled over to write this down. Really I just texted it to myself. I'm stealing that, I thought.

There was something about it that resonated; that pulled the emotion from my chest. Like alternate lyrics from Journey's 1983 blockbuster hit, Faithfully were just discovered. Instead of "I'm forever yours, faithfully," we can just insert "Far away, but somewhere." For those of you of a certain age and familiarity, I am happy to have just made you stretch out "awayyyyayay" so you could sing along. I know that you did.

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What we wouldn't give to have those that we've lost far away but somewhere. Able to send a text or to call. To bounce an idea. To tell them that we love them. The internet of things has essentially shrunk the world. If we position it correctly, most times for the better. We take it for granted and don't send the text. We don't make the calls. We are busy. Things are happening.

My thoughts today are to stop and do that. To call. To text. To send a letter, whatever it takes. It matters. We always feel better when we connect. The person we connect to feels thought about and considered. Maybe even loved.

Really. Is there anything better?

I'll answer for you.

There is not.

This morning. As you're scrambling to get out the door or yelling at your kids to get moving, I challenge you.

Who are you missing that's far away?

Carve out the time to let them know you're thinking of them.

That yes. They are far away. But somewhere is better than nowhere.

#hugsandhi5s