Pay attention

Sky blue ocean view

So yesterday I woke up and it seemed like an ordinary day. 

But before long my friend, Cathy, from Cincinnati, sent me a text saying, ‘would you like to go to the Counting Crows concert tonight?’

I’m a lover of all things musical, and so, even though I have not followed the Counting Crows closely, I immediately said, YES! with a huge exclamation point!

She called and laughingly explained that her boyfriend had bought her Counting Crows tickets for her birthday, which was yesterday and thought that the tickets were for Cincinnati, but they were actually for Charlotte. 

The tickets were transferred and I was stoked! 

It was a very busy day, which was now even busier because we had to be ready to go to the concert by early evening.

Sometime that afternoon, I looked at the back door and saw the biggest dragonfly. I’ve probably ever seen! In fact, at first I thought it was a hummingbird, but no, it was a stunning diamond winged dragonfly. 

He was beautiful and standing straight up and I saluted him and gave thanks that I was able to notice him. I even thought, ‘that’s the first dragonfly I’ve seen all summer’ how amazing, then I moved along with my busy afternoon.

We took our convertible to the concert. (I love the convertible, the wind blowing in my hair. I don’t care what a mess I am when I get there - I will put the top down anytime.) As we were driving, a storm was brewing part of the sky was brilliant blue, the other dark, gray, and ragged with heart shaped clouds hanging off the edge. I counted a dozen or more hearts in those clouds. Wow! Love Letters always on my path!

We arrived at the concert early and as we sat and waited, I checked Facebook and there was a post that immediately grabbed my attention because it started out talking about dragonflies. 

It was from a woman, who I don’t know beyond Facebook, whose husband, Ed, had passed away, and yesterday was his birthday. 

She and her son had seen dragonflies all day and then at some point she had landed on a book of poetry, which was a favorite of Ed, while she wasn’t always a lover of poems. 

She read the poem and it was a message just for her - she had posted it and It was beautiful. I cried at the end of her message and I responded in the comments and thanked her and told her about my dragonfly, and that Ed was very present all around the world on this beautiful birth-day of, obviously, very special people. 

The Counting Crows were spectacular - I think they were a Band I needed to see live in order to fully appreciate. By the end of the concert, I was so full of the raw beauty, I cried most of the way home because of the passion and delivery of that music.

This morning, I wrote a poem about it all…

Oh these skies 

with hearts hanging

off ragged edges 

of clouds 

ready to be torn off 

and put in my pocket

Oh that Dragonfly 

with wings shining

in the sun -

catching my attention 

telling me to pay attention 

Oh those Crows

Counting, With Love, 

From A-Z

music-passion, words

falling straightway into my heart

Oh the beauty 

of a birthday message 

a poem, 

with so much love

its power connecting the world

Oh a day

a half a year of letting go

a song

a breath between the silence 

a swelling note held crystal clear

Oh, then, love

here we are again 

at the start

ready to cross this bridge 

ready to begin again, together