let it go

I have a decently vivid memory of a drive out to Bodega Bay somewhere between 8th grade and sophomore year of high school wherein my friends tortured me by playing country music the entire time. Being the wayward American Bandstand-er lost somewhere in the wrong musical generation that I was (in between teenyboppering too of course) I could not bear the twang and "my girl just left me so I'm going to go milk a cow" sentiment to just about every song I heard. Nothing too terribly against it... I just couldn't dig it.

An unfair generalization, yes. But I was thirteen (or possibly fifteen, like I said, decently vivid memory, not  a solid flashback) and had yet to finalize my taste in music.

Anyway, hit the double arrow to fast forward (or arrows and a vertical line to skip a few chapters ahead for the DVD generation) to college, now somewhere between sophomore year and senior year (timeline here more an ongoing thing than a specific incident) (what's that? more parentheticals you say? SURE!) (ok, this one's just for kicks, we're getting off topic...)

Where was I? Oh, yeah, country music. Meeting Blake meant the occasional Texan coming out and this in turn meant a dose of country (though to this day I have yet to hear to full expanse of his true Texas accent, despite so many margarita nights). Nights spent spazzed out on Blake's extra-long twin in his dorm room were often to the tune of Enya, various Disney classics or the occasional country classic. "Who's Your Daddy?" became a beloved sing-along with HRH belting it out in his fabulous baritone along with my now personal favorite "My Maria".

But that's a lot of backstory to bring things back around to my point here (bless you for sticking with the post thus far)...

So a friend of mine recently tuned me into Zac Brown Band and in spite of myself, things were sounding pretty good. My genre of choice has fallen into a sort of folk rock/folk punk direction with a little bluegrass thrown in for good measure so with ZBB not being too twangy I quickly found that I was keeping their album on repeat. Song after song I was totally into it and, gasp!, loving it! At first I only downloaded one album but was soon going back for more.

And in that second album, one song in particular hit dead home for me. I was leaving Mari's one night after one of the most meaningful nights of wine and conversation I've had in a long time and popped The Foundation into my car and headed home. The first song on that disc was "Let It Go" and following what Mari and I had just been talking about for the last three hours, I knew that God had carefully crafted this moment for me. He had done it so that I would hear exactly what I needed to hear exactly when I needed to hear it. (Funny how He does that, eh?)

The chorus goes as follows:

You keep your heart above your head and your eyes wide open

So this world can't find a way to leave you cold

And know you're not the only ship out on the ocean

Save your strength for things that you can change

Forgive the ones you can't

You gotta let it go

Well said, ZBB. Well said.

Ever since the proverbial ::cough:: expletive ::cough:: hit the fan back in April, I had been fighting things so hard and I was losing steam. London had helped beyond all measure and adequate adjectives, but there was still that little twinge in the back of my mind/heart/soul that wasn't freely giving up what had been taken from me. Incidentally, that was one of my earlier epiphanies about the whole break-up mess - in it all, I  found myself in no way doubting God's plan, but certainly not understanding what I did to deserve that swift hand of change. But it did bring me closer to Him and in doing so, made me look back over the stories that have comforted so many of the centuries. I returned to the story of Job and realized that if I was ever going to find comfort and peace of mind again, I would have to freely give up this thing that I had held so dear. 

But folks, we all know this is easier said than done (if I've done my job right, there should be a resounding "DUH!" echoing through your homes right now).

But what a thought, right? "Let It Go" had unknowingly just summed up the exact philosophy I was trying to put my finger on in order to move forward. "Save your strength for things that you can change, forgive the ones you can't..."! Wow. You all know the weight and importance that I give words and the power that they have for me, so to hear/read something so simply profound as these lyrics was practically a little religious experience itself! And I was so excited to have it!

And so I'll tuck that sweet chorus away in my canon and keep the advice close at heart. The song references those words being a "message from [his] father"... I think I'll put that thought in a box and show it to my children someday when it comes time for me to pass along a little bit of wisdom. Until then, I'll keep repeating it in my mantras.