Gratitude #1:
I’ve written about this song before. It carried me home today, though, so I’m writing about it again. 

Farewell Transmission is a song by Songs: Ohia, a recording name used by Jason Andrew Molina as both a solo artist and as part of a group. The song is from the 2003 album, Magnolia Electric Co. I didn’t discover it or Molina until last year. 

I fell in love with Molina’s music instantly, and I was excited to discover that he was exactly one year older than me, sharing a Dec. 30 birthday; his in 1973 and mine in ’74. Heartbreak quickly followed, though as I learned more about him.He struggled with alcoholism, and his life was cut short by multiple organ failure related to that. 

Given that he passed away in 2013, Molina’s body of work is limited. Still, he created a significant amount of music, of which Farewell Transmission is my favorite piece. It’s seven minutes and 22 seconds crammed with hope, foreboding, the quotidian, the universal, and the heat-death of Earth. 

It also contains a bit of truth that has carried me through some tough moments, including today.

Molina’s fragile, tenor voice reminds us: 

The real truth about it is no one gets it right

The real truth about it is we’re all supposed to try

And some days, that reminder is enough to get me home.

Gratitude #2:
There is no space right now between my sweatpants-clad left leg and Ziti’s short-haired, pit bull body. My sweats are a near-perfect match to the color of her fur, and we blend into one another.

She’s laying up against me so tight that I am aware of each breath she takes, and once in a while I can faintly sense her pulse.

Some afternoons when I get home, Ziti is content to say hello, have a quick cuddle, and then curl up wherever. Other times, like today, she becomes a mental health triage nurse, comforting me and holding space for me.

Thank dog for that.

Gratitude #3:
It’s time to do a bit of curating.

After a year of getting hardly any new books in 2020, the collection has grown this year. And that means it’s time to reorganize, pull out a few to donate, and integrate the newbies. 

Alison and I have a lot of books. It’s our thing. Taking a few hours to sort through them all is a nice bit of Zen, and I’m looking forward to doing it, most likely during the Thanksgiving break.

And then, of course, it’ll be time to start looking for new ones to start the process once again.

Yay.