Tie A Yellow Ribbon

My son and I are reading Running With Scissors together, a memoir about growing up with an alcoholic father and crazy mother. It's a book I've been intending to read for years, but like so many others, it has sat on the shelf. Until now. Because while I don't get a lot of books read these days, I do read aloud to both of my kids, and now that my son is 14, I feel like he can handle this one. I wouldn't want him to read it on his own, but I think reading it with me, where we can talk about what we read, is going to be a learning experience for both of us. Not to mention that it's hilarious.

Although Augusten Burroughs is only six years older than me, there are a number of cultural references I don't understand. It bugs my son, but I insist on googling them so I can see what he is talking about -- like when he mentioned loving Tony Orlando and Dawn -- I'd never heard of them.

Still, there's something familiar about this song:

I'm comin' home, I've done my time
Now I've got to know what is and isn't mine
If you received my letter telling you I'd soon be free
Then you'll know just what to do
If you still want me, if you still want me

Whoa, tie a yellow ribbon round the ole oak tree
It's been three long years, do you still want me?
If I don't see a ribbon round the ole oak tree
I'll stay on the bus, forget about us, put the blame on me
If I don't see a yellow ribbon round the ole oak tree

Bus driver, please look for me
'Cause I couldn't bear to see what I might see
I'm really still in prison and my love, she holds the key
A simple yellow ribbon's what I need to set me free
And I wrote and told her please

Whoa, tie a yellow ribbon round the ole oak tree
It's been three long years, do you still want me?
If I don't see a ribbon round the ole oak tree
I'll stay on the bus, forget about us, put the blame on me
If I don't see a yellow ribbon round the ole oak tree

Now the whole damned bus is cheerin'
And I can't believe I see

A hundred yellow ribbons round the ole oak tree
I'm comin' home

Tie a ribbon round the ole oak tree
Tie a ribbon round the ole oak tree
Tie a ribbon round the ole oak tree

This is a pretty happy tune, and the video is super fun to check out what with the outfits and the hairstyles, but I won't be tying any ribbons around any trees any time soon. Nor am I likely to see any.

What I will be doing, however, is focusing more on myself. My dreams. Not my dreams about love and marriage -- anyone who regularly reads this blog has got to be as tired of me focusing on those as I am.

Nope, for the next few months I'm going to focus on my other dreams -- being a writer -- finding a way to help people in my work -- and trust that by more fully becoming myself, I'll be that much more ready to partner with someone else when the time comes...