Meden Agan - speaking with trees

Somehow, somewhere I came across this little gem. It has been with me for years. Decades, actually.

I always placed it in a position of priority, either pinned above my desk at work or posted on my fridge door at home. I lost it for a few years, and searched for it often. I just found it again this past summer. I am posting it here so I won’t be so apt to lose it again and so I can share it with you.

I don’t know who wrote it, but it’s a response to Rudyard Kipling’s poem, “If.” Ever since reading this version, it has been my goal in life to be as good as my dog. Or at least almost as good. I’d settle for that.

If you can start the day without caffeine;
If you can get going without pep pills;
If you can resist complaining and boring people with all your troubles;
If you can eat the same food every day and be grateful for it;
If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time;
If you can overlook it when something goes wrong through no fault of your own,
and those you love take it out on you;
If you can take criticism and blame without resentment;
If you can ignore a friend’s limited education and never correct him;
If you can resist treating a rich friend better than a poor friend;
If you can face the world without lies or deceit;
If you can conquer tension without medical help;
If you can relax without liquor;
If you can sleep without the aid of drugs;
If you can honestly say that deep in your heart you have no prejudice against creed, colour, religion, or politics;
Then, my friends, you are almost as good as your dog.

~ Author Unknown

I cried twice yesterday, and again this morning. It surprised me.

It’s not like I was having a bad day or anything. Although I guess yesterday wasn’t so great when I think of it. I had no energy to do much at all, despite it being one of those Most Beautiful Blue Sky Summer Days, the kind you mark in your calendars. But this troubling lack of energy had nothing to do with why I found myself in tears. A Teen Burger, a goodly dose of Vitamin B12, both recommended by my very concerned husband, pretty much took care of my not feeling so well in a physical way.

It was heart trouble that had me in tears. It had just been pried open like a sardine can. Immediately, quickly, effortlessly. Its protective cover ripped off so unceremoniously, I sat there raw and tender and grateful. Especially grateful. For all the heavenly days I spent with my dog, Bear. We had almost 16 years together.

It was a song that started it all. The crying, that is. Perhaps it is more accurate to say that it was my musical journey, the one to do with f-i-n-a-l-l-y learning to play guitar, that set off the waterworks. Because yesterday a song was shared by a member of a how-to-play-guitar-for total-beginners group that I’m in.

I had never heard this song before, nor had I heard of the artist who wrote and performed it. The artist’s name is Patty Griffin, and her song, the one that sent me for a loop, is called “Heavenly Day.” Patty says it was the very first love song she ever wrote, and that she wrote it for her dog. Thanks to my life with Bear, I totally “got” every word, every phrase, every moment of simplicity and grandeur that song portrayed.

I invite you to watch this recording of a live show featuring Patty performing this song. See if it will have the same effect on you. If it does, know that you have been blessed with a beautiful life, or at least a beautiful time in your life. And that is worth crying about.

Namaste.

PS – Patty Griffin is a Grammy Award winning artist! (What rock have I been living under?!?) Wikipedia tells more about her wonderful musical career here.