Troubadors

What a perfect show.

I think I could just post their play list and it would be enough to make everyone who has reached a certain age sigh in happy reminiscence. These are the songs that become tangled up in our very existence; rendering themselves inseparable from the memories of times past. I sat next to a long-lost/new-found friend who leaned over to me at one point and whispered, eyes shining, clearly retrieving a memory she hadn't dusted off in years, "A friend wrote that lyric in my high school yearbook."

You've got to wake up every morning with a smile on your face, and show the world all the love in your heart. ~ Carole King, Beautiful

I reached over to hold my husband's hand. I reached across him with my other hand to hold my daughter's hand. I leaned my head into my friend's shoulder. Tom thought I was being a little silly, I could tell, but it was a wonderful moment.

Shower the people you love with love, show them the way you feel. ~ James Taylor, Shower the People

My best friend in the middle school years and I listened to her Tapestry album so many times I'm surprised we didn't wear it out. We sang every song, word for word; note for note, over and over and over. We hadn't experienced many of the complexities of life yet, but Ms. King paved the path for us. That friend was taken from this world in a most untimely manner a few years back, making those memories even more poignant for me.

It doesn't help to know that you're so far away. ~ Carole King, So Far Away

They closed the second set, as I'd suspected they would, with You've Got a Friend. They performed it as a beautiful duet, sitting side by side, their long and loving friendship obvious in their body language. Tom and I played that song to introduce the bridal party at our wedding.

Close your eyes and think of me, and soon I will be there - to brighten up even your darkest night. ~ Carole King, You've Got a Friend

It was an amazing show, performed on a revolving stage to make every seat in the house a good seat. Carole King is gorgeous. I don't mean gorgeous for her age (68, according to the ever reliable Wikipedia), I mean flat out gorgeous. It would be tempting to say that she seemed most comfortable seated behind the piano, because that certainly was a natural placement for her, but she seemed equally at ease strapping on a guitar for one or two songs - indulging in guitar hero poses that delighted me to my core. When she was not seated behind the piano, she owned the stage - dancing, engaging the audience, and smiling - always smiling - her beautiful, wide, easy, real smile - all in ridiculously high and skinny heels. Well, you just go on and GO, girl!

Now I'm no longer doubtful, of what I'm living for, and if I make you happy I don't need to do more ~ Carole King, Natural Woman

James Taylor's voice has not changed a bit. He presents as humble, in a manner that is charming, sweet, real and - dare I say it? - sexy as hell. He looks a little older, but still younger than his 62 years (again, per Wikipedia) would indicate appropriate. But his voice? - virtually unchanged. I kept thinking that if I closed my eyes, it would be pretty easy to melt years - decades - away. I didn't, though. Not for longer than the time it took to blink. I didn't want to miss a thing.

So close your eyes, you can close your eyes; it's all right. I don't know no love songs, and I can't sing the blues anymore, but I can sing this song, and you can sing this song when I'm gone. ~ James Taylor, You Can Close Your Eyes

I thought You've Got a Friend would be the end. When you're Carole King and James Taylor, where do you go from there? How could there be a more perfect ending for this show? They left the stage to thunderous applause and I did not anticipate an encore. Except - the house lights didn't come up. And that means...

Up on the roof we went. I was pretty emotional at this point. These two amazing and prolific talents had stirred up quite a lot of memories. I tried to subtly wipe a tear from my eye without being noticed. In doing so, my head turned slightly to the left, and there was my friend rubbing both eyes with her fists. I threw subtlety to the wind. It's highly overrated anyway. We went ahead and openly wept. It had been quite a ride.

When this old world starts getting me down, and people are just too much for me to face, I'll climb right up to the top of the stairs, and all my cares just drift right into space. ~ James Taylor, Up On The Roof

I'm not a huge fan of live albums, but I may buy this one. And I'm going to listen to it with my eyes closed.

Put That in Your Dot Com and Fax It

I am in a deeper funk than Rick James.

The Great Gray Beast is about to be devoured by lions and lambs and leprechauns and such, and I'm rooting for them - especially the lambs - but I'm not feeling as relieved as I should be. The Great Gray Beast sucked it out of me but good this year.

Y'know who DOESN'T hate February? My mom.

She has her reasons. One of them is that for the last twenty years or so she's spent the full month in warmer climes. That would sure be enough for me. But that's not her biggest or best reason. Her biggest and best reason is that her birthday is in February - tomorrow, actually, and she is - if it's possible - even more of a child about celebrating her birthday than I am. I'm sorry. Did I say birthday? She prefers birthmonth.

Anyway - in honor of Mom's birthmonth I thought I'd share a quick conversation we had yesterday. The backstory is that I told her about Beth and her campaign and Mom wanted to make some caps. She asked me for patterns, as many of you did (thank you!!!) and I told her what I told those of you who asked: there are so many patterns out there for every ability level and taste... for you computer savvy folks I followed that up with - just google chemo cap patterns. I told Mom basically the same thing then told her I'd look for her - what was she thinking about? She said, "My girlfriend down here has a computer - we can look it up. What do we do?"

I could hear her pencil scratching. "Now, should she just type in "chemo cap patterns dot com?"

"No - have her do a google search on chemo cap patterns."

"Google. Spell that."

"G-O-O-G-L-E"

"Ok. She'll know how to do that."

"Yes - she should."

"Google. Got it. Google dot com."

"Right."

We talked about other things and ended the call. When she called yesterday, she very excitedly told me, "Hey, Tam, we dot commed those patterns and we found one we liked. Then we went down to the office (they stay in a condo on the beach) and they printed it out on their fax machine. So my friend and I are gonna get started on these in the next day or two."

God love 'em.

That woman brought me a smile through the funk. And it's not even my birthmonth.

Gimme a Head With Hair

This is my friend Beth.

I know, pretty, right? What do you notice first when you look at her? Is it her sparkling eyes? Her sweet smile? It might be. But my best guess is that the first thing you noticed was that gorgeous crop of copper curls. Yep, Beth has some pretty hair.

Around Thanksgiving, she told me about St. Baldrick's. She told me she was thinking of shaving her head in exchange for contributions to this excellent charity that supports childrens' cancer research. She'll also be donating as much of the actual hair as possible. Now my own hair woes have been extensively discussed here. I'd shave mine bald in a heartbeat and have threatened to do so on many occasions. Beth, though. Damn. I mean LOOK at that hair! But she told me, "I believe in this cause. I want to contribute. I don't have money. But I have hair. It's the least I can give." Well that shut my shallow self up. I immediately stopped trying to talk her out of it and asked how I - someone whose locks are not so glorious and valuable - could contribute. She gave me two options:

1. Sponsor her. Tom and I intend to do that although, like her, money isn't something we have a whole lot of. Our contribution will be small, but the ocean is made up of drops of water, right? If you'd like to contribute as well, Beth - and I - would be infinitely grateful. She's set up to accept contributions as small as $1.

https://www.stbaldricks.org/participants/bethchroninger

I'm betting if she sees a couple bucks as a result of this post she might be coerced into sharing some after pics with us and maybe MAYBE even some during pics...

2. Make chemo caps. I am in the process of madly doing that now. If any of you knit or crochet and would be interested in contributing in this way, please let me know and I'll hook you up with pattern links as well as a way to get them where they need to be.

Now go back and look at that picture again. Imagine her without hair. Still pretty beautiful, huh? Maybe, though it scarcely seems possible, even more so.