You oldsters thought I would have inserted “Misty” instead of melancholy, right? Well, I can’t stand the song “Misty” in all forms and fashion. There might actually be a song actually entitled “Melancholy”, but I didn’t feel like looking for it.
I find myself feeling a tad melancholy on this Texas Hill Country Monday morning, which has always been my least favorite point of the week …..other than Sunday nights at 6:00 PM. If your TV was on at that time on CBS (providing it wasn’t football season and an NFL game was running late) you’d hear that familiar stop watch ticking. I’d hear that and I knew my weekend was over and a state of blah would ensconce me like flash floodwater. I remember coining this particular overwhelming sadness ”Morley Safer Syndrome”.
I mean no disrespect to the late “60 Minutes” reporter. He was a hardened, old schooler, an intrepid, award winning newsman on CBS who took us into the heart of battle during Vietnam and a host of other places of extreme danger where viewers could watch from the relative safety of their living rooms.
Good ol’ Morley. I’m miss his integrity, but I’m also glad he and all the old notable Tiffany Network news alums aren’t alive to witness the depths to which broadcast Journalism have sunk. It’s a travesty.
But, seeing Morley’s face, hearing his voice meant the weekend was over and Monday morning with work and school starting after a brief 24 or 48 hour reprieve was just hours away. I was in college when Texas still had Blue Laws, which for a lack of a better description, still honored the Christian Sabbath of resting on the seventh day. I’m assuming this to be the reason, so don’t quote me. Anyway, Blue Laws meant meant most businesses were closed on Sundays and certain items couldn’t be sold in grocery stores which could remain open if the owners chose to do so. It was weird, You could by beer and wine, but not an aluminum cake pan???? Then, right before the Blue Laws were voted down, things changed. You could by a cake pan, but only after 12:00 PM.
Malls were closed on Sunday and their empty parking lots became a skater’s paradise, a bicycler’s dream or a nightmare for the parents of soon to be 16 year olds. The lots were the perfect place to teach their kids all aspects of driving a car with relative freedom from oncoming traffic.
But let’s give it up for those antiquated Blue Laws. Because of them, that meant Sunday was my only day off and I usually took every advantage of every second of that day, which made Monday even more manic. I’d start off tired in class then feel exhausted by the time I finished my eight hour shift at work. I’d often question why I’d do that to myself, but hey…,I was in my early 20’s. I was convinced I was an indestructible immortal, but knowing 60 Minutes was on reminded me I was very human with a shelf-life.
But this Monday morning feels like all those other Monday mornings I had in my 20’s. I had an okay Saturday, but an ugly Sunday, which marked the fifth anniversary of the death of my beloved cat, Charlotte. I also learned of a cancer scare of a younger relative and that an ex had been arrested for lewd and lascivious behavior.
I actually saw saw his smug mug shot wearing his jail uniform in several newspaper articles. I’m not sure how I feel about this news. It’s not devastating by any means. We’ve been broken up forever, but there were homosexual overtones involved in this incident…
And I have no issue with gay people, but I just can’t seem to wrap my head around how I feel about this. Enough time has passed to proclaim me far removed from any real concern, it’s not bothering me, it’s not upsetting me, but I find it oh, I don’t know—-a bit disconcerting, I suppose. I knew this man biblically speaking . He’d been married, twice. Oh, I know things happen, people change, drugs come into play and can embolden us to do many things, but still, how can how can I not be at least a little bothered by this news?
Because of Mr. Ex’s transgressions and all the heartbreaking memories and soul-crunching news I received in one day, I’m going to post a few songs that might better express how I feel. Why? Because today I might be 60, but I feel like a sad, 21 year old. Inexperienced in life, anticipating making more logical decisions with the full formation of my frontal lobe in a few years, trying to survive life and love in a difficult, cynical world…..but even in the midst of all this nonsense, I had a great ass.
Always look for at least one positive in your sea of misery.
So, weep with me, won‘t you?
And I include this next song because sometimes you can go out in the world and live it out loud, in Dolby sound, in full Technicolor. You can do it all, see it all and one day wake up and realize somehow, you’ve still missed out on a helluva lot.
“I saw the rain dirty valley below……..you saw Brigadoon”. Both looking at a valley, but seeing two completely different things.
Damn perspectives again.
waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaasaah.