There will never be another you

Monday! Again? Stuck in a rut or getting busier where you are? Is it a brand-new day or Groundhog Day? I know, sweetie darlings. Everyone is feeling it in some form. No one is exempt. We are all being held back one way or another. But our spirits can soar. No one can cage them, impose a curfew on them, take them away from us. They can try but we won’t let them. And I know it can be difficult to find inspiration and come up with new ideas if you’re feeling anxious and afraid, but try to step outside yourself in those moments. Try to reach for things that give you joy and solace, because they are out there. Only you can give them away; you simply shouldn’t. For every thing that annoys you, find a thing that delights you. For every person that exasperates you, find a person who soothes you. Counterpoint every moment spent in dark thoughts with thoughts that enlighten and expand you. They are your thoughts, after all; you are in control. Easier said than done? Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it. Not a wishy-washy-yeah-right attempt. With All Your Might. All right?

I’m brightening my mood and days by celebrating some notable birthdays, today and in the past/next few days. On Saturday and Sunday, I honored the late, great Freddie Mercury by watching Queen: Live at the Rainbow (November 1974), and Queen and Adam Lambert: The Show Must Go On. When Freddie died, I most surely wasn’t the only fan who believed that no one in a million years could replace Freddie. Along came Adam Lambert with his strong, dramatic, melodic voice. He isn’t Freddie. Freddie was a rare beast. But Adam is a rare beast in his own right and I think he is the perfect successor to Freddie in this new Queen. A new generation of fans get to experience the music and the magic, and old fans get to see the magic and hear the music performed. Win-win!

Today, Brazil celebrates its independence from Portugal. The Bicentennial year is up in 2022. That same fall, Brazilians will elect a new president. Or the old one. And the two-term limit is not for life so anything can happen with this current president who treats democracy as a hurdle and not a touchstone. Thinking about Bolsonaro and his cronies makes me turn to all the tips I offered in the first paragraph. How they revel in the rage they incite, these wannabe dictators of our modern democracies. It makes us miserable while hurting them not one bit, so let’s stop giving them that power and start wrenching that power back into hands that aren’t out to grab all they can. Let’s vote like our lives depend on it, because more and more they do.

My counterpoint to Senhor B. is my maternal grandfather. He would have turned 100 today. He died in 2010, two months after his 90th birthday. My maternal grandmother would have turned one hundred tomorrow. (She died in the mid-nineties.) Yes, they were born on consecutive days, a few villages apart. They married at nineteen just before my grandfather set out to fight in WWII. I’ve been thinking about them a lot lately, filled with gratitude for every day we spent together, and they were many. Looking at pictures, talking to my children about them…I’m so happy they got to know him. Even my youngest remembers him. And I will never ever forget, not even when I am a hundred.

So today I wish you well, sweetie darlings, I wish my childhood home of Brazil well, and I celebrate my maternal grandparents with her favorite meal and his favorite cognac. And loads of love and longing.