Up Where We Belong by Joe Cocker
“Who knows what tomorrow brings
In a world few hearts survive
All I know is the way I feel
When it’s real, I keep it alive

The road is long
There are mountains in our way

But we climb a step every day
Lord lift us up where we belong
Where the eagles cry, on a mountain high
Lord lift us up where we belong

Far from the world below, up where the clear winds blow
Some hang on to “used to be”
Live their lives looking behind
All we have is here and now

All our life, out there to find
The road is long…”

Sometimes a song just grabs you and it’s your theme song for a while.  This song grabbed me early this week when I heard it in a NPR story about Buffy Sainte Marie.

Monday: A trip with friends to see the new Military Working Dog statue at The High Ground. A carload of people with varying disabilities and abilities takes off for a road trip on a rainy October day, prepared to picnic outdoors and walk around a remembrance park for veterans.  We ended up dodging between rain squalls long enough for me to climb up and touch the dog sculpture—a proud German Shepherd on full alert with his soldier.  Even the rough thick fur on the dog’s chest was well-sculpted.  We ended up at home for an indoor picnic afterwards full of laughter and good feeling. Everybody’s disability needs were cheerfully accommodated. These are the kind of friends who even say something positive about my kale burgers!

“Who knows what tomorrow brings” but we’re all hopeful another road trip will happen for this crew.

Wednesday: Five events in one day: cooked two meals for friends, chaired a committee meeting, went to a workshop and did my month’s grocery shopping.  The workshop was on the similarities between improv comedy and dementia care giving. One of them was living in the moment. No time to ponder just enjoying the people at each activity. “All we have is here and now” and it was good!

Suggestions for care giving included saying “yes and” instead of “no” and not dwelling “in the house of guilt.” Of course the usual self-care ideas of accepting help and finding easier ways to do things were also mentioned.

Saturday: As I went to the farmers’ market with a friend, we exchanged tales of woe about household disasters. She called it “Queen for the Day” competition. My entry included: a black screen on the computer that would not talk at all so I didn’t even know it was black until she told me, an iPhone that needed to update twenty apps because I’d updated the IOS and a garbage disposal that quit working (on a weekend of course).  Her entry was smelling something dead in her kitchen. It turned out it was a dead mouse floating in a vase under the sink. The vase had caught most of the water from a leaking sink pipe. I believe she wins just because of the image of the dead mouse floating!

“There are mountains in our way
But we climb a step every day
Lord lift us up where we belong.”

P.S a new children’s book “Lorraine: The Girl Who Sang the Storm Away” by Ketch Secor carrier this theme of a song bringing you through troubled times. Synchronicity lives!