And I emerge from the Silly Season at last…
Welcome back to the cornucopia of emotion, goofiness, and occasional pathos that is my Musical Monday Blog! This week’s song is Pompeii by Bastille. This post is dedicated to one of my life long best buds, Kimberly (you can check out her blog at http://www.kimberlyemerson.com/).
Kim and I met in the fifth grade when my parents moved and I started school with her. In sixth grade we were in the same class, largely because there only was ONE sixth grade class, and we really hit it off. In a foretelling of who we would some day become we wrote stories and read them to one another. We would even write a chapter, pass it off to the other to write the next chapter, and so on and so forth. She moved away after ninth grade and I lost a wonderful light out of my life.
Cue the twenty-first century and Facebook. BAM! There’s Kim! And we’re back, people. After corresponding via funny posts (you know cute cats, political cartoons, and the things that George Takei puts up) I flew down to SoCal to see my old friend in person. And in the words of this week’s song, “Does it almost feel like nothing changed at all?” We’re getting the band back together! Er, so to speak.
When I listen to Pompeii I hear a miracle of friendship, that after so many years and so many miles, different life choices, it almost feels like nothing’s changed at all. Growing up, Kim and I weathered the slings and arrows of the resident elementary school and, later, middle school, Mean Girls. Nowadays as we both slog our way through this inscrutable thing called the publishing industry, we frequently have to give one another a lift emotionally. The rejections and the sheer contrariness of a path to hoped-for success that literally has no sign posts is wearing on the psyche, to say the least. (Yes, there are how-to books, but if I have learned anything in recent years, it’s that everyone’s story is quintessentially unique.) On the days when I am finding it simply impossible to be my usual optimistic self, Kim is there to lift me up and I hope I do the same for her.
I know I am painting my own personal picture from the song, yet this is what the line, “How am I gonna be an optimist about this?” means to me. That’s the great thing about music, art or poetry, you are the master of your domain. It is up to you to say what that media means to you, how it moves your spirit. Pompeii may mean something very different to other people, but for me it’s an ode to friendship and not giving up on my dream– or Kim’s.
After all, we haven’t failed until we stop trying.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F90Cw4l-8NY
Pompeii”
Many days fell away with nothing to show And the walls kept tumbling down
In the city that we love
Grey clouds roll over the hills
Bringing darkness from above But if you close your eyes,
Does it almost feel like
Nothing changed at all?
And if you close your eyes,
Does it almost feel like
You’ve been here before?
How am I gonna be an optimist about this?
How am I gonna be an optimist about this? We were caught up and lost in all of our vices
In your pose as the dust settled around us And the walls kept tumbling down
In the city that we love
Grey clouds roll over the hills
Bringing darkness from above
But if you close your eyes,
Does it almost feel like
Nothing changed at all?
And if you close your eyes,
Does it almost feel like
You’ve been here before?
How am I gonna be an optimist about this?
How am I gonna be an optimist about this?
If you close your eyes
Eh-eh-o eh-o [8x]
Oh where do we begin?
The rubble or our sins?
Oh oh where do we begin?
The rubble or our sins?
And the walls kept tumbling down
In the city that we love
Grey clouds roll over the hills
Bringing darkness from above
But if you close your eyes,
Does it almost feel like
Nothing changed at all?
And if you close your eyes,
Does it almost feel like
You’ve been here before?
How am I gonna be an optimist about this?
How am I gonna be an optimist about this?
If you close your eyes, does it almost feel like nothing changed at all?
Eh-eh-o eh-o [8x]
This post was written by Erika Gardner. If you enjoyed it, please sign up to receive updates on this blog. Or you can follow Erika on Twitter @Erika_Gardner or “Like” her Facebook page Erika Gardner- Writer and Storyteller. Check out her contributions to the BBB Blog.