Thursday, June 18, 2009

Random Thoughts On A Rainy Day

I am back home after spending the morning at Baptist East Hospital with my wife. The best part of this experience was the fact that I was not the patient. This time it was my wife who was there for some routine outpatient tests. The good news is that the tests went well and no problems were detected. After we left the hospital we had lunch at a nearby restaurant. Now we are both at home with a free afternoon to enjoy. The gift of time is one of my favorite gifts.

While I was sitting in the waiting room at the hospital day turned into night and we had a big thunderstorm. When I got home I had a better idea of how hard it actually rained. There were small twigs and leaves all over the road, one could easily see that the normal drainage route was overwhelmed, and my back yard is once again full of fallen tree branches. It looks like I will be required to do some yard work on Saturday. The next time I have a few thousand dollars laying around those trees are history.

My father died back in February. If he were still alive today it would be my parent's 60th wedding anniversary. I was hoping he would live long enough to see it. Of course, even 59 years is quite extraordinary.

Today is also Paul McCartney's 67th birthday. The music of Paul McCartney, especially the songs from his time in the Beatles, have been a big part of the soundtrack of my life. I finally saw a Paul McCartney concert in 2002 and it was one of the most enjoyable musical experiences of my life. I'm so happy he put out a DVD and CD of that tour so I can regularly relive the experience.

A few weeks ago I was contacted by a stranger who stumbled upon my blog. It turned out that she is an author and has a strong interest in the connection between spirituality and music. In fact, she has written a book about it called "I Found All The Parts"...Healing the Soul Through Rock "n" Roll. She was kind enough to send me a free copy which I began reading a few days ago. I am very interested in reading her thoughts because I have long felt that music, even rock and roll, is very spiritual and the experience of music touches us in ways we do not always understand. In many ways music has been a religion for me. I would have to say that no other artistic or spiritual experience sustains me as consistently as music.

On a more traditional spiritual path this week I also started reading the latest book by the Dalai Lama entitled "Becoming Enlightened". I read a page or two with my morning coffee before leaving for work. I like the Buddhist ideas that all things are connected, that karma affects our life experiences, and that much of our suffering is a product of our own minds.

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