8:30 p.m. Wednesday evening. I’m in Texas on assignment, Dallas thankfully. The planned evening workout at the gym has been canceled without much fuss. I’ll need to carry the fuel of three consecutive days of nutritious Chick-fil-A, home fries and Kit Kat bars into a fourth day. You’d say, not possible to eat Chick-fil-A, home fries and Kit Kat bars three days in a row, and I would tell you not to bet against me.
I’m fully reclined on the bed leaning against the headboard.
A long day.
The MacBook warms my lap. The TV remote control rests on my right.
I start with the day’s RSS feeds, rifling through the posts. And stop.
The Headline shouted: Fishermen jailed, fined millions for massive shark massacre off Galapagos Islands. The Ecuadorean navy made a shocking discovery earlier this month when, at the request of Galapagos National Park officials, it investigated a Chinese-flagged vessel cruising through the marine reserve off the Galapagos Islands. They found more than 6,600 illegally caught sharks lying in piles onboard the vessel known as the Fu Yuan Yu Leng 999.”
The Galapagos Islands. A protected area. 6,600 illegally caught sharks. Wow.
I set the laptop down and grab the remote.
CNN: Houston. Hurricane Harvey. Levees topped out. Mothers’ clutching babies. The aged being hauled out of Nursing homes. Flood waters rising.
Click.
FOX: North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un and missles over Japan.
Click.
MSNBC: Trump and Russia.
Click.
BRAVO: The World Wildlife Fund commercial. 60 seconds, and I can’t avert my eyes.
I turn the TV off.
I twist in my ear buds, grab my iPhone and turn to Apple’s Coffeehouse playlist. The first tune on the list is Glen Campbell’s (RIP 8/7/17) Gentle on My Mind:
I still might run in silence
Tears of joy might stain my face
And the summer sun might burn me till I’m blind
But not to where I cannot see
You walkin’ on the back roads
By the rivers flowin’ gentle on my mind
Lights out…
~ DK
Live & Learn 
You nailed it. I can handle nothing but music. I feel too breakable – and I don’t break easily.
LikeLiked by 4 people
Me too Mimi. Me too.
LikeLike
Ditto Mimi. Only spa music will carry my thoughts to more gentle places.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes Peg. With you.
LikeLike
perfect end to a difficult day and a long week
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Kevin.
LikeLike
How relatable and vivid.
Music is magic, is it not.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you. It is. It so is.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Right there with you, pal. Coffeehouse and the Spa channel are the places I hide…the steady drip of bad news from every quarter is threatening to take me down. I cling to every news bit that speaks of compassion and largesse as though it were a lifeline….
LikeLiked by 2 people
Lifeline. That’s it Lori. You did it again. Nailed it with just the right word.
LikeLike
sometimes, when the world gets too heavy, music is the only answer.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes.
Music reminds us what love is. If you’ve forgotten what love is, go listen to music.”
Adam Zagajewski, Slight Exaggeration: An Essay (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, April 4, 2017)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Whenever I watch the sunrise or sunset, it reminds me to keep standing in awe of the beauty and the miracle of life. That’s my new television. 🍀
LikeLiked by 3 people
What a great channel!
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s all too much most times. I put myself on a strict news diet every few days. Nature does so much to soothe our soul.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes. I need to get on the diet. Now.
LikeLike
3 days of Kit Kat bars surely helps a weary soul. 4 even more.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Laughing. You’re on point Freddie. Day is young. Might double down on that salve.
LikeLiked by 1 person
News weary. The best click of all is the one labeled “All Off”.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Bingo!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Too. Much. Too. Heavy. To. Process.
Perfect post. Thank you.
LikeLiked by 1 person
So true. I’m with you. Thank you.
LikeLike
Your poem captures your feelings for a lost love. We get the sense of the desire to recapture the past. You display vulnerability which helps us to maintain humanness after experiencing lost.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Ingrid. Thank you. I wish I could write lyrics or poetry, in this case, they are the late Mr. Campbell’s. And yes, I’m guessing many of us are feeling vulnerable today.
LikeLike
Room service? or a cab to some Texas Steak House?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Almost always Room Service.
LikeLike
It always amazes me when I’m reminded of how stupid most of the world’s population is. We live our sheltered, “civilized”(?) ordinary lives and forget that most people in the world care nothing for the survival of all the beautiful creatures on the earth, caring least of all for their own future beyond the immediate moment. If they don’t mind destroying the earth, it makes sense that they wouldn’t care if there were any plants or animals left on it, let alone other people. Ohhhh pffft! I’m trying to write an encyclopedia’s worth in a small comment space. Frustrated! Saddened! Gimme a KitKat or four, please.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Kit Kats have been shipped!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh goodie! That will help a little bit anyway.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank goodness for the calming music of Glen Campbell and the WWF. We have to protect our fragile stressed selves these days. Hope you get out of Texas soon 💕
LikeLiked by 1 person
So agree Val. I’m home. Thankfully. And sleeping in my own bed.
LikeLiked by 1 person
We do not watch TV and this is why. There is much good in the world (and this from me is something), but we cannot know it if we ingest a stead diet of America’s propaganda machine.
On another note, I remember Glen Campbell with fondness. And John Hartford whose songs GC recorded more than once, a dear love with whom I was able to share a cuppa before he passed too early from this world.
Rest easy, David. What is contained within the skin is where we must reside, and the choices we make can secure or shatter those boundaries. ❤
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Bela. Glen Campbell does seem to elicit simpler more gentler times.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Inquiring mind, here…Thursday evening? Did you mean, Wednesday evening? I saw strawberry kit kit mini and choc. ones on clearance.at the grocery store today…I, of course thought of you…and no I didn’t make the purchase…as I am GFree, Dear Hubby likes kit kit and I am a frugal one. I figured no need as we have really good choc. at home…Mrs Call’s
Milk Choc Pecan Clusters, w/Sea Salt and Mrs. Call’s Milk Choc Sea Salt Caramels + Gimbal’s All Natural Black Licorice Scottie Dogs (first time I’ve found G Free Licorice!) /// I chose not to watch the video, I would most likely cry if I did.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow. Even had the day wrong. Thanks for the correction. And your chocolate mention, has me drooling.
LikeLike
It would be cruel to mention our dinner menu…it just went in the oven…
LikeLiked by 1 person
So glad then, you didn’t mention it.
LikeLike
many things are on my mind…. some, I best just not say.
I did, listen to Gentle on My Mind though and smiled, Thank You. that helps.
now, wishing you a better day for tomorrow
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Debi.
LikeLike
We do not have a Chick-fil-A, the next town over has a Sonic…a few years ago a lone Jack in the Box, opened…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sonic is good!
LikeLike
The image of more than one windup toy “Jack in the Box” is eerie, like the sing on of “Outer Limits”
LikeLiked by 1 person
It does get overwhelming at times. I listen to a lot of music, read and do a little writing. Only news I can stomach here in the US is PBS. Glad you made it home safe David.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Ilona…
LikeLike
Thank you for saying what so many of us are feeling. I sometimes wish I could isolate myself from all the awful news, and I have to gather conscious courage to take it all in. Music is my refuge too.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you.
LikeLike