Music Saves the Day

Ah, the blahs of new year's day. Ornaments come off the tree to be carefully wrapped and stored for another year. The tree is dragged first to the backyard and ultimately to the Xmas tree graveyard, thankfully, as this is CA, to a site where it becomes home to tiny birds and at last compost.

Blankets, muddled by daughters and dogs, are washed and dried and neatly folded away. Floors swept. A few gifts remaining to be returned for credits. Final holiday wishes e-mailed and a few phone calls to those most dear.

Bills paid and the rent check ready to deposit. A last glance at last year's budget and this year's prepared for future reference. A few final invoices. A new diary ready for scribbling [I still keep one in my purse for personal items but the calendar is at Google!]

A new book opened for the first of the year's reading. An old book closed with a review ready for posting. The Sunday NY Times read cover to cover with its intermittently bleak review of the future. A good laugh at Bill Maher's, a delight in Pico Iyer's point of view. A Facebook posting, a tweet for good measure.

The daughters are back in their world, friends busy with their own. New Year's Day can be a lonely day, filled with chores and reparations. I am less present than I should be, more in readiness mode, but that is what this day is for me, among others.

The savior: music. I dig out a few of my favorite CD's - yes, I still prefer to listen to albums in their entirety as their creators meant for them to be heard. Joni Mitchell honored by others, an old favorite soundtrack, a bit of the blues, gospel, the boisterous notes of Adele. It is the music that saves the day, as it so often has through my lifetime, as I find myself swaying to the rhythm even as I box up ornaments and sift through bills. I sing aloud, I wonder once again at the enormity of the human spirit in sound.

Tasks accomplished, the future looks brighter because no matter what happens, there is always the music. Even beyond the traditions, beyond books and words, friends and family, there is always the music.