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The Weary Kind and All I Want is You

If you read my post about Karen Maezen Miller’s new book Hand Wash Cold yesterday, you’ll know that I’m trying my darnedest to live every day of my life–the one I’ve been so generously given.  I have to break it to you, though.  Sometimes I get kinda tired.  Kinda weary.  Kinda discouraged.

And then I have to go pick up those books that encourage me, flip through the pages, read those beautiful words again…and have them imprint my heart once more.

“The Weary Kind” is from the movie Crazy Heart, a wonderful movie full of grace and redemption and love.  If you haven’t seen it, what are you waiting for?  This song gets me every time.  You can listen to Jeff Bridges sing it here, if you need a repeat.

Here are the lyrics:

Your heart’s on the loose
You rolled them sevens with nothing lose
And this ain’t no place for the weary kind

You called all your shots
Shooting 8 ball at the corner truck stop
Somehow this don’t feel like home anymore

And this ain’t no place for the weary kind
And this ain’t no place to lose your mind
And this ain’t no place to fall behind
Pick up your crazy heart and give it one more try

Your body aches…
Playing your guitar and sweating out the hate
The days and the nights all feel the same

Whiskey has been a thorn in your side
and it doesn’t forget
the highway that calls for your heart inside

And this ain’t no place for the weary kind
And this ain’t no place to lose your mind
And this ain’t no place to fall behind
Pick up your crazy heart and give it one more try

Your lover’s warm kiss…/em>
It’s too damn far from your fingertips
You are the man that ruined her world

Your heart’s on the loose
You rolled them sevens with nothing to lose
And this ain’t no place for the weary kind

Here’s Ryan Bingham singing it:

Go ahead.  Be tired.  Sit still.  It’s your body and mind telling you enough is enough.  You can only do what you can do.  Listen.  Feel what you’re feeling.  Go through your day slowly, the only way you know how.  It’s okay.  I’m giving you permission (and no, I’m not your mother or your dad or your spouse…or anyone important).  I’m just me, speaking from experience.

There was a period (oh, the last eleven years or so) that I was going through a l-o-o-o-o-ng grieving period, and there would be some days, I’d feel all right.  I’d want to jump out of bed to tackle my day, but then there would be days I’d be gazing out the window, and my grief would come crashing through the glass and hit my body with such force I had to sit down.  The melancholy would sink way down into my stomach, and the tears would flow.

Any of you who have gone through any kind of grief will know this.  It hits at the most inopportune times.

But.  I’m here to tell you that if you weather it, day in day out, you come to a new place–a meadow of spring flowers ablaze in the sun.  It’s a swelling symphony compared to the dark loneliness of the forest you’ve been trudging through.

It gets better.  The grief diminishes.  And miraculously, you can talk about it now…help others know that it is possible to come out of the gloom, into that glory, here in this lifetime.

If you’re willing to stick with it.

Stay in the life you’ve been given, as Karen says.

If you haven’t entered the giveaway for two, signed copies of Karen’s Hand Wash Cold, do so here.  Then listen to this second song.  It’s one of my favorites–a little more upbeat than the first.

Barry Louis Polisar’s “All I Need is You” from the movie Juno.  I’ve posted it once before, but it’s always fun to do something twice, don’t you think?

This is me reaching out to give you a heartfelt hug.  Can you feel it?  Hang in there.  We’re all in this together.

[Post image: Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart]

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