You Know We Sang in the Sunshine, We Laughed Every Day

Tags

Dolly Parton, ee cummings, happiness, happy, life, mom, necklace, Raymond Carver, starfish, Stars, sunshine

I think about today’s songs, and the first word that comes to mind is “happy”. The songs aren’t always happy, but they are the songs that cause me to forget all inhibitions and sing along as loud as I feel. They’re chore songs, so to speak. I remember vacuuming my slanted summer rental in Boulder one summer after a bag of birdseed fell into the stove, and rolled everywhere. In our pajamas, my two roommates and I drank wine and vacuumed out the stove, all while we danced and sang to Diana Ross and the Supremes. Top of our lungs sang. What a release.

I have been focusing lately on what makes me happy. I got the cutest phone call from my nephew L tonight just to say hi. We laughed as I told him a joke. Phone calls and one-on-one time with my nephews and niece make me happy. Today, I picked up Cathedral by Raymond Carver, a collection I haven’t read in a long time. I love Carver, and his craft never fails to amaze me. I read while I munched on juicy cherries bought at the farmer’s market yesterday. My clean apartment feels good to lounge around in with the sun streaming in the windows. These little things make me happy.

And then there are stars. I have this thing with stars. Poems about the stars, drawings of stars, starfish, songs about the stars. You get the drift. My favorite ee cummings line is “a single star is uttered and I think of you”. This, like the songs today, like the