We'd gone to High School together. We were friends, but not close. We hung around with the same group of people. I'm sure we talked from time to time.
We hadn't spoken in years. Many, many years.
And she contacted me. Out of the blue.
We had a long talk. She'd lived overseas. She had lots of stories to tell. She told me about her work -- which was interesting. Something I may have thought years earlier I could have done, but now have zero interest in.
It was a great conversation. We vowed to keep in touch.
Jenny told me that she'd always remembered something I said to her.
And she told me what the thing was.
I didn't remember it -- although I recognized it as the type of thing I would have said.
"I thought about what you told me every day for ten years," she said. "It inspired me and helped me make myself who I am."
Which I'm happy about.
Except.
I don't remember saying it. I'm sure I did -- but it didn't register for me.
Even though it clearly registered for her.
But that's not the worst of it.
I knew Jenny's name. I could almost remember what she was like.
But I couldn't picture her. I knew the associations. Knew the connections. Knew the people.
But I couldn't remember which one she was.
That part of the puzzle is a blank for me.
Like the words I said.
And I don't feel good about this.
Because it makes me wonder. What else I've forgotten.
And what else was vital to others and barely registered for me.
There are a lot of things lately making me feel a lot older than I am.
Hopefully, that will happen for a great many years to come.
This Neil Young song is 33 years old. He was 33 when it came out:
"When you're gone," he sings, "you can't come back."
Then how do you explain this new video from the Rolling Stones?
The Rolling Stones are starting their SIXTH DECADE as a band. And even though their artistic peak may have been 40 years or more in the past... this gives me hope.
(And reminds me to use drop-cloths when painting...)
I wrote this three years ago -- and edited it just a little for today.
Today is John Lennon's birthday. If he'd lived, he would be 72 years old.
That's almost impossible to imagine. And out of all the celebrities who've died in my lifetime, I took his death the hardest. (I never met him, I didn't even like all his music, but there was something about his spirit that I connected with at a very deep and fundamental level.)
In the same way, I connect with Iceland in a very deep and fundamental level. There's something amazing and spiritual about Iceland and it's reflected in their lifestyle, their music, and in their amazingly beautiful scenery.
Every year, Iceland holds a huge music festival in October called Iceland Airwaves. Every year I vow to get there, but I haven't made it yet.
In 2006, Yoko Ono started construction on the Imagine Peace Tower, on a small island just off the coast of Reykjavik, Iceland. Since this project combined John Lennon and Iceland, I followed its progress closely.
The "tower" consists of a wishing well, on which is written the phrase "Imagine Peace" in 24 languages. Under the base of the wishing well are more than a half-million handwritten wishes Ono collected from people all around the world.
In 2007, the tower was unveiled. Each year on John Lennon's birthday, the monument becomes a "tower of light" as 15 searchlights are bounced through mirrors and prisms to create a beam of light that stretches more than 12,000 feet into the sky. The tower of light is kept lit each year until December 8 (the day John Lennon was killed).
If you can't make it to Iceland, you can see live streaming video of the tower here.
Visit the official Imagine Peace Tower website online here.
Or take a look at a great time-lapse video of the tower from 2011 (complete with aurora activity around 12 seconds in):
I loved this song the first time I heard it as a kid.
I knew there was something amazing and important about it. Even if it would be many years before I'd have the life experience to imagine what that amazing, important thing was.
And now, it's been more time since Jim Croce died than it was between his birth and his death.
Which makes the song seem more fragile and beautiful now than ever before.
In 2006, Yoko Ono started construction on the Imagine Peace Tower, on a small island just off the coast of Reykjavik, Iceland. Since this project combined John Lennon and Iceland, I followed its progress closely.
In 2007, the tower was unveiled. Each year on John Lennon's birthday, the monument becomes a "tower of light" as 15 searchlights are bounced through mirrors and prisms to create a beam of light that stretches more than 12,000 feet into the sky. The tower of light is kept lit each year until December 8 (the day John Lennon was killed).
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