Memory Box #2 - Letters

Please tune into track #2, listen to the song and follow along with the lyrics.

The night was an old stray dog,

It was bitter and cold, lonely and hard as stone.

She walked with the world on her shoulders,

As the night crept in colder and colder

And with each step in the rain there rose a melancholic refrain that sang you're all alone.

It sang you're all alone.

He's older and wiser and bored,

As a young man he lived by the sword,

Till he found out that love was a knife and got cut one too many times.

The table was slightly romantic,

But the scene placed upon it was tragic,

She tried to hard not to need he spent all night trying not to bleed

They both longed for the sun in the morning a hand in the afternoon,

The sweet kind of recklessness,

Innocent born in youth,

Before that hole in her heart,

Before he found out that love was sharp,

Well she could re-light the fire but she'd come back with burned up hands,

And he could re-light the fire but he'd come back with burned up hands,

And they could re-light the fire but they'd come back with burned up hands.

- - - - - -

So at the very bottom of my good ol' shoe box happens to be a series of letters, about 20 in total. The significance of these letters? Allow me to explain...

As you know, I am someone who values the written word and after all these years I still blog, that has got to mean something right? See, there is just something beautiful about how language can be woven together. You can take a series of words that apart from each other mean nothing and string them together in a carefully thought out order to create a masterpiece. As visual art is stimulating to the eyes, music to the ears, the written word does not impact the eye, but rather the mind. While there is no doubt that music influences the mind as well, the pure nature of lyrics and of written words is to weigh on the mind.

I have collected these letters over the past 3 years or so. Accumulating over birthdays and multiple random occasions this collection of letters continues to grow. While some of the letters are since dated and I am sure that some of the writers would wish to retract some of the statements made, they still each hold some sort of memory and significance. Allow me to say, it is not healthy to live in the past as you cannot progress in life if you hold on to each and every relationship that has died, but rather you should be striving to press forward into new relationships. In the same sense, failed relationships should not be pushed away and shoved into the closet for no one to see but rather acknowledged, they did happen, friends.

The simple fact is: People change.

You change, I change, he changes, she changes. This fact should not be startling but should provide you with some insight as to why relationships fail. What once started out as a mutual friendship can turn sour when common ground is lost, I could go all Dr. Phil on you, but we are going to save that for later.

Anyways, as I read though all these letters over the past few weeks I am more than thankful for the writers. For the many writers whom I still talk to daily and for those who I don't get around to talking to as much as I would like, for the writers who I have wronged and for the writers whom I have forgiven, for the writers who still breathe, for the writers who have exhaled for the last time, for the writers who are broken and for the writers that are content: thank you. Some of your words are dated and no longer hold the significance they once did, but for that brief moment in time, they meant something.

Now, remember that song that you just listened to? A beautiful yet heartbreaking ballad. The tale of a friendship past. The ending stanza of the song gives an ultimatum. "And they could re-light the fire but they'd come back with burned up hands." What does this mean?

For those in a relationship that is on the fritz, listen up. In every situation there is two sides, sometimes you need to make things right and apologize and sometimes you need to forgive, whatever the situation may be one fact rings true. When your relationship finally levels out you have two choices: A. Relight the fire, or B. Walk away.

Sometimes relationships can be saved, you can use duct tape and band aids to hold it all together, yet other times it cannot. If you are constantly trying to figure out how to make things work, maybe you should stop burning your hands, get some aloe vera and walk away.

May green be the grass you walk on,
May blue be the skies above you,
May pure be the joys that surround you,
May true be the hearts that love you.