valeriesbookofme

This week has been a mixture of looking to the past, the present and, a little, the future. I came across the YouTube video of Heart singing “Stairway to Heaven” for the remaining members of Led Zeppelin at the Kennedy Center Awards back in 2012. Watching Robert Plant and Jimmy Page I felt almost as if I was in their minds, the eyes, the moisture, Page looking at Plant, remembering. I am their age, I was young as they were back in 1975, I listened to “Stairway” and while the music just suffused me, I confess I didn’t understand what the lyrics meant. Still unsure but listening to them now I think of that lady thinking she could buy her way into heaven. A parable for today? But, mostly, watching that YouTube reminded me of a time when I was young. And now I am not but I am still here, still healthy, still feeling so much. And for that I am thankful. (Sunday morning, being thankful for Led Zeppelin, what a funny thing.) And this week my heart ached for the children of Gaza. Every time I ...

Posting after a long time ;) Here goes: People Are Strange  Songwriters: Jim Morrison / John Paul Densmore / Robert A Krieger / Raymond D Manzarek People Are Strange lyrics © Doors Music Co., Doors Music Company People are strange When you're a stranger Faces look ugly When you're alone Women seem wicked When you're unwanted Streets are uneven When you're down When you're strange Faces come out of the rain When you're strange No one remembers your name When you're strange When you're strange When you're strange   This morning I re-read a journal entry I’d made a few years ago, where I answered the question “What’s one of the strangest things that’s ever happened to you?” I won’t repeat my answer here, good though it was [smile]. Instead I want to reflect on the word “strange” and its meanings. I looked at two meanings: one, “unusual or surprising in a way that is unsettling or hard to understand.” And the second, “not previously visited, seen, or enc...