Straight from the Heart

I was walking out of work toward my bike this afternoon when my inner dj decided to reach back a few decades and pull out a ballad from my youth:

You say it's easy but who's to say
That we'd be able to keep it this way
But it's easier
Straight from the heart

Straight from the heart
Tell me we can make one more start
You know I'll never go
As long as I know
It's coming straight from the heart

Here's a crowd-pleasing version of an older Bryan in concert -- I think I like the sound of his voice more there than I do in the back-in-the-day ripped-up-shirt and rolled-up-jeans version -- even if the latter was the voice I came of age with -- coming into my bedroom through my clock radio.

As cheesy as he is, he speaks the truth. And as heartbreaking as being a teenager can be, it really can't touch the pain involved in breaking up a marriage, especially one that includes kids. I took my kids to see the documentary Babies tonight, and in the opening sequences with the pregnant women, I just started to cry. I'm not sure there's any time more full of expectation (literally and figuratively) than in the latter stages of pregnancy, and I remember that feeling so well. I remember sharing it with their Dad, too, but now we share custody and variable expenses instead of hopes and dreams. That's not true -- we still share hopes and dreams -- for our children's future. And in many ways, we are making another start, as coparents. It can be a rocky road, but it's a road I'm walking down with my heart open. We weren't able to keep it that way (see first verse above), and we're all happier having admitted that and moved on.

I'm with you Bryan -- straight from the heart -- that's the only way I know how to tell it. And who knows? I think there may be another baby in my future, maybe even in my belly -- born(e) out of a different set of hopes and dreams with another man.