Sir Duke

My man and I headed to Kettle Moraine to mountain bike today, after being thwarted by wet trails earlier in the week.

On the way home, we heard this Stevie Wonder number:

Music is a world within itself
With a language we all understand
With an equal opportunity
For all to sing, dance and clap their hands
But just because a record has a groove
Don't make it in the groove
But you can tell right away at letter A
When the people start to move

They can feel it all over
They can feel it all over people
They can feel it all over
They can feel it all over people

Music knows it is and always will
Be one of the things that life just won't quit
But here are some of music's pioneers
That time will not allow us to forget
For there's Basie, Miller, Satchmo
And the king of all Sir Duke
And with a voice like Ella's ringing out
There's no way the band can lose

You can feel it all over
You can feel it all over people
You can feel it all over
You can feel it all over people

You can feel it all over
You can feel it all over people
You can feel it all over
You can feel it all over people

You can feel it all over
You can feel it all over people
You can feel it all over
You can feel it all over people

You can feel it all over
You can feel it all over people
You can feel it all over
I can feel it all over-all over now people

Can't you feel it all over
Come on let's feel it all over people
You can feel it all over
Everybody-all over people

And I thought: "Yes!" I CAN feel it all over. Alive. Strong. Vigorous.

And of course, in lovvvvvvvve...

Signed, Sealed, Delivered

So often, especially these days, the articles and videos that I see in my Facebook feed are heavy, but this video of FLOTUS doing carpool karaoke is the complete opposite. It's light. It's joyful. It's exuberant. It's real. It's honest. It's awesome!

She sang a few different songs, but this Stevie Wonder (her fave) classic was among them:

Like a fool I went and stayed too long
Now I'm wondering if your love's still strong
Oo baby, here I am,
Signed, sealed delivered, I'm yours
Then that time I went and said goodbye
Now I'm back and not ashamed to cry
Oo baby, here I am,
Signed, sealed delivered, I'm yours

Here I am baby
Oh, you've got the future in your hand
(signed, sealed delivered, I'm yours)

Here I am baby,
Oh, you've got the future in your hand
(signed, sealed, delivered, I'm yours)

I've done alot of foolish things
That I really didn't mean
Hey, hey, yea, yea, didn't I, oh baby

Seen alot of things in this old world
When I touched them they did nothing, girl

Oo baby, here I am, signed, sealed delivered,
I'm yours, oh I'm yours
Oo-wee babe you set my soul on fire
That's why I know you are my only desire

Oo baby, here I am, signed, sealed delivered,
I'm yours Here I am baby
Oh, you've got the future in your hand
(signed, sealed delivered, I'm yours)

Here I am baby,
Oh, you've got the future in your hand
(signed, sealed, delivered, I'm yours)

I've done alot of foolish things
That I really didn't mean
I could be a broken man but here I am

With your future, got your future babe (here I am baby)
Here I am baby (signed, sealed delivered, I'm yours)
Here I am baby, (here I am baby)
Here I am baby (signed, sealed delivered, I'm yours)
Here I am baby, (here I am baby)
Here I am baby (signed, sealed delivered, I'm yours)

It is a happy number, and it's a happy time, when you're in love and it feels certain that's where you will say. Impermanence, my friends. We don't stay anywhere.

Speaking of not being able to feel the ground beneath your feet, I just drove home through the biggest thunderstorm I've ever  driven through in my nearly 30 years behind the wheel. So scary.

And as I drove, I listened to Ta'Nehisi Coates' book, Between the World and Me. Wow. What an incredible, thought-provoking read. I highly recommend it for people like me who are grappling for answers to all the mayhem that is going on in our society right now. It's eye opening, and it's beautifully written, and it represents a perspective from which most of us can learn a lot...

My Cherie Amour

Last night I went to see Silver Linings Playbook with a friend. What a spectacular movie. Quirky, funny, poignant, well-acted, inspiring... I really loved it.

But watching the movie, I just kept wishing that my boyfriend were there with me. It came to me over and over again throughout the movie: it's him. It's his fascinating thoughts, his laughter, his keen powers of observation, his response to it that I most wanted to hear. At that moment and for as long as I'm on this earth.

As in many movies, there was a love story at the heart of it, and seeing this love story come to fruition on the screen triggered two seemingly disparate feelings in me: a profound sadness and a comforting clarity.

I felt really sad that I wasn't sharing it with him, that we weren't in a place where we could fully embrace our love as the two main characters were at the end of the movie. Walking out of the movie, I had these big, powerful tears that carried a strong message that I could tell had nothing to do with any old wounds, nothing to do with not wanting to be alone, nothing to do with anything other than the same sadness I've been struck with every time I contemplate letting him go.

So I'm not going to do that. He's my sweet love, the one my heart beats for, and that's all that really matters. The rest we can work out. Maybe it won't look like the picture I had in my head, but the prospect of getting to be with him -- his happy self -- his best self -- that's better than any picture I could've come up with in the abstract.

Speaking of sweet loves, this Steve Wonder classic played an important role in the movie -- I won't tell you exactly what role -- go see the flick and find out for yourself:

La la la la la la, La la la la la la

My cherie amour, lovely as a summer day
My cherie amour, distant as the milky way
My cherie amour, pretty little one that I adore
You're the only girl my heart beats for
How I wish that you were mine...