Wednesday, December 18, 2013

An Early Christmas Present (A Little More Spirit)

Carol came through again. She always comes through.

I staggered home through another snow storm and 8 consecutive at Lompoc just dying for a day off, which I have today.

Settled in on a cozy December night with the woman I love.

She told me she had a surprise for me; it was obvious she was excited. We settled in with food and the safety, the warmth of this house we have made a home, our cats and the itty bitty Christmas tree.

She dialed up my surprise on On Demand. The Colbert Report. We watched the show, she fast forwarded through the breaks praying that Colbert would not give away the secret when she hit play.

She did it masterfully and I had no clue. Finally..........got to the rare musical segment of the show.

Featuring Gregg Allman singing "Silver Bells" with The National. It was exquisite. Colbert even joined in; I have seen him do this a few times with other groups and it is obvious that he digs doing it. He didn't ruin it.

It was subtle, it was pretty, it was Christmas.

I asked Carol to rewind it so I could see Colbert's intro - I didn't know who Gregg was singing with and I really dug them, especially the lead singers deep, baritone voice. And I asked her to let it run through again.

This time I had tears in my eyes. Tears to listen to possibly my most inspirational musical influence singing a Christmas carol so softly, so reverently; tears to discover yet another musical group that deserves my attention; tears in recognizing the masterful way Carol wowed me with a simple moment.

She didn't just play a clip; she gave it to me like a present.

And it was a present. She gave me something. She softened the night. She opened up my diseased brain to a little more Christmas spirit. The itty bitty Christmas tree glowed beautifully in my line of vision as I listened to Gregg and The National (and Mr. Colbert) caress a Christmas carol delicately.

This is what Carol does. She gives me the simple moments that connect directly with my heart. And she does it with genuine excitement, genuine enthusiasm. It makes me realize the nature of giving, and how a life can be made more beautiful with such simplicity. And that pure happiness can come from the giving. Carol gets so much pleasure out of doing something like that, it forces you to face truth dead on.

You can make yourself happy by giving to others, and the giving can be exquisitely simple. No big gift, no grand expenditure. Just love and consideration and purity of intent.

I run around fighting the world, fighting myself, furiously trying to make my life simpler.

Carol grabs a remote and in a few short minutes, makes my life simpler. Reduces it to us, over 35 years in the making. Focuses me in on a man she knows I love and a moment she knows I will dig deeply.

She softens me up.

If it wasn't for Carol I would be granite.

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