The Dark Path

[SteveA]

It's fun to see how you can take what would be an otherwise "normal" (I think normal is also becoming a word I don't understand much anymore ... along with randomness ... what's normal and what's random? )

On the Pub thread a couple of the songs had got me thinking a bit (like what doesn't do that to me? ) and it sort of hit me as to the value of leaving some things unaltered - there are always plenty of opportunities to change and alter things, but you really only get a single opportunity with something to leave it untouched and just enjoy it as is and I had an experience that was a bit of the complimentary side of your soaking in a bit of the evening ... I was outside and figured I'd just try doing nothing at all - just figuratively stop wanting anything to be different and just see the moment as is and it was interesting because there was a breeze blowing and little activity going on, but the breeze just coasted to a stop and things seemed to become quiet, except for the sound of a young girl playing in the suite next to ours and it stayed like that with just the barest flickers of breeze and a few distant sounds until I was going back inside and then the breeze picked up again.

Coincidence? Well, I'd have to say that at least in that moment it wasn't coincidence and the moment's what matters

Take care.

[austintorn@aol.com]

The Dark Path

[labelwench]

Well acquainted with the night,
The Lord of Darkness on my right,
Doth watch o'er me till comes the light,
And watches till I fade from sight.....

I bid him wait and cause him yearn,
Impatiently awaiting my return,
Other distractions he does but spurn.
Meditative rapture.....so brightly burns.....

[labelwench]

Working nights has become my preference, and this can be difficult and even hurtful to explain to others who want to engage with me, as in my 'former life', I was quite active in the community and definitely a 'get 'er done' personality.

I remain available to socialize, merely on a different schedule, and if it's my services that are desired, alas, my commitment now lies with a new 'mission'.

Yes, I suppose I 'Don't Get Around Much Anymore', lol......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vN3Tg...eature=related

[labelwench]

There is beauty in melancholy, though some cannot see past the sadness. As I watch the late summer fade into early autumn, in advance of winter, the symbolic season of 'death' and prelude to the rebirth of spring, this song seems fitting......

[labelwench]

[mkirkpatrick]

Before I recently retired from paid employment I worked nights for over 20 years from 8 pm till 8am,mostly in mental health nursing,it was always like another "world" there on nights, many of the patients could not sleep,and had many fears of the dark,the time of demons to be on the prowl! we would often just sit and talk with mugs of tea in hand
waiting till the dawn,then many would see it safe to go to sleep then,at times now strangly i miss those nights chatting away and just being there.

regards michael.

[labelwench]

Thank you for sharing, Michael. Twenty years of working nights qualifies you as being in the very small percentage of people who can handle extended night shift. Long hours, as well, balanced by the need to interact and be ever vigilant of the needs of the patients, and I don't doubt that some of them may have required either physical assistance or perhaps restraint on occasion.

Our local hospital has the additional burden of caring for some of the patients that would be better served by a facility catering to their mental needs, but none is available in the Yukon, and so one section is kept locked and under surveillance as some of the patients would undertake to check themselves out, given the opportunity. For those who have no experience of these circumstances, often the reaction is one of sorrow and pity for people who seem to have 'lost their dignity' yet from friends who have served in a trained care-giving capacity, they share that the patients are less discomfited by such mishaps and wardrobe faux pas, than are the visitors. What they most need, as you have remarked, is the love and interaction with others.

Some of the patients have evolved unto a childlike mentality, and share the pleasures that remembered childhood offers, of a secure world of new wonders each day, though for others, their circumstances are fearful, as they deal with loss of comprehension.

We cannot know the experience of another, save we share the journey with them. Twenty years is quite a journey.

Kind regards,

Lorrina

[labelwench]

A friend just sent this link to me, and it seems like a nice way to call it a day....

[leskey]

A great song with the video clips beautifully integrated - thanks, lw.

I could live with only the very basic necessities of life as long as I had music...which makes one wonder about the origins of music...where would we be without Africa's contribution?

One winter's night a few years ago, I was awaiting the arrival of friends in a hotel lobby in Hobart, Tasmania, when there entered a tall, elegant, slightly grubby woman clad in layers of tattered clothes. She left her 'luggage' near the entrance doors and confidently strode up to the grand piano in the lobby bar and began to play with great dexterity and feeling.

The music was compelling and people at first stopped, then respectfully gravitated to her to watch in awe. The dignified performance continued for about 30 minutes, then to enthusiastic applause, she abruptly arose and strode back to the entrance, gathered her bulging plastic bags and disappeared into the night with the calls for an encore ringing in her ears.

Subsequent enquiry with the hotel staff, gleaned that she lived on the streets and would appear at irregular intervals to assuage her need to play...it had become an idiosyncrasy of the hotel.

The memory is one of life's little gems...