I READ THE NEWS TODAY OH BOY

The news today is all about world events.

News organizations deliver it every day with the same hype and urgency.

News hounds consume every detail and load it onto the pile they carry in case someone asks them ‘what’s up?’

That’s when you brace yourself for the headlines as if they’re coming from an anchorman. Or woman.

That’s the big news story you NEED to know.

The small news, the stories that make us step back, come out another way.

The small news comes in an email, a DM, a phone call, or text.

Someone knows someone who got married, got divorced, had kids, grandkids, a family reunion, a retirement party, a celebration of life.

Will the circle be unbroken?

 

Undertaker, undertaker, undertaker
Won’t you please drive slow
For that lady you are haulin’
Lord, I hate to see her go.

Will the circle be unbroken
By and by Lord, by and by
There’s a better home awaiting
In the sky Lord, in the sky.

 

The Quiet News Today

There we are, all set to go, loaded up with the essentials to live a good life.

The important stuff is important, the unimportant stuff is important, and it all fits where we want it.

Keep the lights on to see that everything is where it’s supposed to be? Check.

Then days pass, weeks pass, years, decades, until things start slipping away unnoticed.

 

 

One day the lights go off.

 

Where something used to be is darkness.

Look harder?

Still dark.

 

The Sassy Light

A Sadie Hawkins dance, a prom, a graduation?

They all carry a glimmer, a sweet memory of time passed.

I’ve carried hope for those I know to find their best life, that they keep looking for stuff and thangs that amaze and enlighten them.

I carry the same hope for those left behind after their passing.

While nothing lasts forever, high school girlfriends and boyfriends leave lasting impressions.

Lasting impressions? I’ve found the same qualities in people I like all my life as I found in high school.

My high school girlfriend has been a lifelong guide on dating.

Do they remind me of Barbara? Yes.

If they didn’t? Oh well.

 

PS:

She set a standard of sassy and smart that’s been hard to beat.

 

PSS:

Did I make the cut? The judges are still working on an answer.