Rambling On With Led Zeppelin

  Do you ever hit a point in your life when you just stop doing anything and ponder how you actually got to where you are today? Sometimes this moment can happen while you are in bed at night, waking up at maybe 2:00 AM, pondering as Peggy Lee once lamented, “Is that all there is?”

  I’ve been pondering much since my nephew, Dominic down in Austin, Texas, back on August 28, 2019, passed away in such an agonizing way from his battle with cancer, an enemy that just devours up all life in its wake. He was only 48 years old and quite accomplished – was a lobbyist, always on the job inside and outside the State Capitol building. He left his wife and three children behind to continue on without him.

  Sometimes we look back with sadness at that time and other times before it, when you lose someone and your whole life gets wrapped up in pain and puzzlement. Been there before and surely will get there again. The nature of life’s comings and goings, the nature of happiness, sadness, remorse, joy, laughing and all other episodes of rambling emotions.

  You know, when things happen that throw you a nasty curve in life, I find music an elixir. Sometimes I need to ramble on with Led Zeppelin. Other times it could be The Temptations or Luther Vandross. Or maybe contemplate the meaning of Pink Floyd’s “Darker Side of the Moon.”

  I thank God for my sense of humor, which is often the best weapon available when you get the blues. Like Peggy Lee singing in her sultry voice questioning just what life is all about – listening to the lyrics, sometimes we expect so much to happen to us and get depressed knowing that sometimes that’s all there is and it clearly seems like not a lot but a long shot.

  The month of January has so far been a month filled with new starts. The past is gone. The future lies ahead. All we have is today, trying to figure out what today holds for us and any significant things crossing our paths moving forward out of January and into February and beyond.

  When I was younger, I worried about major snowstorms. Watched the weather on TV all the time. Today, I just wait for what comes next – easier to live, less complicated. When I look into the bathroom mirror shortly after waking up, I see myself pretty clearly. The fog of my day is yet to come. We all need to live each day as an opportunity to improve ourselves and to have faith in ourselves. Too bad this kind of understanding finds us in this twilight of our existence, huh? By now, we know many answers to many questions but must resign ourselves to just doing the best we can with any new unanswered questions, and just hope for the best for ourselves and those we love. No more, no less.

  I just keep moving along and not in any great rush yet to take that staircase to heaven with Led Zeppelin or anyone else. I still have things on my bucket list but it’s still an awful big bucket.

  Bottom line from this Baby Boomer: Stop looking at the clock and just start enjoying what we have. Oh, stay happy, too.