We have a friend staying with us for a while. I’m not sure how long he will be here, but he’s an easy person to be around and our house is built in a way that he can be at one end watching a movie on the surround system and I can be at the other, not really aware that anyone else is home.
What I mean is having him here isn’t really any trouble, and sometimes it has a surprising benefit. For example, yesterday he cooked a really great root vegetable stew for dinner. It was nice to come “home” from the office (a short walk across the breezeway) to find a large pot of something that smelled delicious bubbling on the stove in the warm kitchen.
Last night after dinner we were talking about how life seems to be such a huge struggle for me right now. It’s been that way for a year, but lately it seems to have heightened again and I feel overwhelmed and fearful.
Somehow in our conversation last night we got on the topic of the old song “Row, row, row your boat.” David, our friend, was saying how the song seems to be childish babble, but it is really has a deeper subliminal message. Think about it.
Row, row, row your boat … that’s three “rows”: you have to work at life
Gently down the stream … okay, you have to work, but steer that boat downstream, not up. And go easy, do it gently.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily … ah, not sullenly, not indifferently, but with a light heart and good humor
Life is but a dream … stop taking it all so seriously
I’ll try to remember this simple tune as I start another day.
I am 80, with Parkinsons, and so lonely. We moved back to my husband’s home town 8 years ago. I had looked forward to it, but have failed to make any close friends ..just acquaintances. He has 2 clubs, works part-time and has coffee wwith his buddies. I have really tried…having people over, etc. But those who come never invite. I enjoyed your thoughts. We had a dog but she was one caught by the poison food and we got a cat. She prefers my husband. I will go back to my books and poetry now.