The Sounds from my Heart

This is the soundtrack that represents "2024" and are based both on my stories/poems that have been chronicled on Vocal and from the point of view of my heart. Great idea for a challenge, Vocal!

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1) Always in my heart and on my mind, as reflected and chronicled in my work on Vocal this year, are my ancestors. Sometimes, you need to go "back" to understand who you are and where you need to go from there. Sometimes, you have to do that to gain the strength to carry on...or to get healing.

At times I hear the voices of my ancestors, even some of them I've never known, but I still carry deep inside. They want me to know them.

I am fortunate to have an inheritance where my ancestors have actually walked the land. It gets bittersweet at times.

This past year, I published:

https://shopping-feedback.today/poets/song-of-the-ancestors https://shopping-feedback.today/history/tory-story https://shopping-feedback.today/history/faith-under-her-pillow https://shopping-feedback.today/history/a-farmer-s-life-1891 https://shopping-feedback.today/history/frederic-fletcher-webb https://shopping-feedback.today/beat/a-potpourri-of-songs https://shopping-feedback.today/families/people-who-point-us https://shopping-feedback.today/families/i-can-t-let-january-go-by https://shopping-feedback.today/families/not-just-an-aunt https://shopping-feedback.today/families/bad-week https://shopping-feedback.today/families/some-things-never-change-hg176055w https://shopping-feedback.today/poets/remembering-my-mama https://shopping-feedback.today/chapters/the-black-and-white-world-of-1938%3C/em%3E%3C/p%3E%3Cstyle data-emotion-css="14azzlx-P">.css-14azzlx-P{font-family:Droid Serif,Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;font-size:1.1875rem;-webkit-letter-spacing:0.01em;-moz-letter-spacing:0.01em;-ms-letter-spacing:0.01em;letter-spacing:0.01em;line-height:1.6;color:#1A1A1A;margin-top:32px;}

Miranda Lambert's song, The House that Built Me, reflects my heart and year perfectly.

2) I lost another beloved pet this year. It wasn't like I didn't see it coming, but I just wasn't ready to say goodbye. He wasn't my first fur baby to leave. I've felt this pain before. Duke had even shared in grieving with me when we both had said goodbye to Daisy four years earlier and to Baby Gee the year before. The fire burns and only the rain can bring healing from that scorching misery...but there was no sunshine for me for awhile.

Duke. He was my friend. He was faithful. And I can't say that about too many two-legged people in my life, so...Even though this song isn't exactly about dogs, it is about being confounded by loss. James Taylor said it for me in his song, Fire & Rain.

But I wrote about it here:

https://shopping-feedback.today/poets/for-duke https://shopping-feedback.today/petlife/girls-just-wanna-have-fun-yq5h0zdy https://shopping-feedback.today/psyche/stuffing-it%3C/em%3E%3C/p%3E%3Cstyle data-emotion-css="14azzlx-P">.css-14azzlx-P{font-family:Droid Serif,Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;font-size:1.1875rem;-webkit-letter-spacing:0.01em;-moz-letter-spacing:0.01em;-ms-letter-spacing:0.01em;letter-spacing:0.01em;line-height:1.6;color:#1A1A1A;margin-top:32px;}

3) Along with the help of Jesus getting me through the corridors of life, there's always humor. Humor keeps me from crying or screaming or ripping somebody's head off. It helps me to cool my heels and think twice before jumping off a cliff or into a frying pan of hot grease to escape the burning flames of a fiery hell. If you need a laugh, then here are some of the ones I wrote this year as my therapeutic salve...maybe they will help:

https://shopping-feedback.today/humor/you-ll-miss-me https://shopping-feedback.today/poets/it-looked-like-my-car https://shopping-feedback.today/humor/divorce-discovery https://shopping-feedback.today/humor/ever-so-often https://shopping-feedback.today/poets/dinner-plans-r5p00vn https://shopping-feedback.today/fiction/this-ain-t-the-1960-s-turkey-day%3C/em%3E%3C/p%3E%3Cstyle data-emotion-css="14azzlx-P">.css-14azzlx-P{font-family:Droid Serif,Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;font-size:1.1875rem;-webkit-letter-spacing:0.01em;-moz-letter-spacing:0.01em;-ms-letter-spacing:0.01em;letter-spacing:0.01em;line-height:1.6;color:#1A1A1A;margin-top:32px;}

My go to "funny" music video (from way back) has got to be Steve Martin's wacky and lovable Saturday Night Live's "King Tut." I play it occasionally to make me laugh when I really, really need to...

4) My writings this year have sometimes reflected social conditions, an election frenzy, and a desire to make a better country to leave behind for my grandchildren long after I'm gone. And I have even participated in my civic duties by voting and serving on a grand jury for six months, as required in my home state.

I am one to keep up with local news, national news, and world affairs. I try my best to read an array of different sources to wade through the steady stream of media bias. But no matter which way the news is colored, it oftentimes isn't pretty. There are blurred lines, shamefulness, disgrace, and pure evil in those frames.

Sometimes, I feel compelled to write political stories. I know it will be costly, but everybody has a voice. Even if we don't agree. I just want those voices to be as respectful as possible, so I try to write objectively and without as much bias as possible in getting my point across. I also seek to understand...

Here are a few of my writings from this past year that have reflected my point of view:

https://shopping-feedback.today/poets/stepfather-kvfy0q4a https://shopping-feedback.today/criminal/getting-to-the-heart-of-the-matter https://shopping-feedback.today/criminal/eek-i-got-a-jury-summons https://shopping-feedback.today/psyche/missionaries-in-america https://shopping-feedback.today/poets/world-day-of-war-orphans-write-a-story-about-a-child-orphaned-by-war https://shopping-feedback.today/theSwamp/debate-thoughts https://shopping-feedback.today/theSwamp/debate-thoughts-part-two https://shopping-feedback.today/theSwamp/what-we-value https://shopping-feedback.today/theSwamp/infanticide https://shopping-feedback.today/theSwamp/just-an-opinion https://shopping-feedback.today/theSwamp/inflation-is-a-major-problem https://shopping-feedback.today/poets/grin-or-bear-it https://shopping-feedback.today/poets/soft-rain-wb4ne0o3z%3C/em%3E%3C/p%3E%3Cstyle data-emotion-css="14azzlx-P">.css-14azzlx-P{font-family:Droid Serif,Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;font-size:1.1875rem;-webkit-letter-spacing:0.01em;-moz-letter-spacing:0.01em;-ms-letter-spacing:0.01em;letter-spacing:0.01em;line-height:1.6;color:#1A1A1A;margin-top:32px;}

But no matter what happens in our world, our country, our state, our towns, in our neighborhoods, and especially within our families...I believe firmly that God is still and will always be "in control." This song by the Newsboys, "That's How You Change the World," reminds us that it all starts with prayer and a helping hand!

5) As I looked back through the months of the year 2024 that I spent on Vocal, and using it as somewhat of a journal...pouring out of my thoughts, feelings, longings, remembrances, and hopes for the future, I see that a theme evolved...bridges.

Here are some of those stories and poems (implied in title or content:) https://shopping-feedback.today/poets/taking-the-hand-of-a-parent https://shopping-feedback.today/poets/dawdling-is-tcb https://shopping-feedback.today/poets/sunshine-and-spaghetti https://shopping-feedback.today/journal/the-bridges-we-meet https://shopping-feedback.today/fiction/mara-and-elaine https://shopping-feedback.today/poets/standstill-c19o0aid https://shopping-feedback.today/fiction/trees-don-t-lie https://shopping-feedback.today/pride/a-bridge-among-the-flowers https://shopping-feedback.today/psyche/a-minor-inconvenience https://shopping-feedback.today/families/the-keeper-of-the-calm https://shopping-feedback.today/psyche/the-frankenstein-story%3C/em%3E%3C/p%3E%3Cstyle data-emotion-css="14azzlx-P">.css-14azzlx-P{font-family:Droid Serif,Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;font-size:1.1875rem;-webkit-letter-spacing:0.01em;-moz-letter-spacing:0.01em;-ms-letter-spacing:0.01em;letter-spacing:0.01em;line-height:1.6;color:#1A1A1A;margin-top:32px;}

Bridges represent a need for reconciliation to take place. I see that need in my own family, other families, and in our country...now more than ever. We need healing, understanding, respect, and hope for better tomorrows. The Vocal audience must need bridges, as well...five of these have been given an honored Top Story status this year.

There's probably no better song lyrics that could reflect my thoughts and feelings and our need as a nation right now (especially after the election.) This recording of "Love Can Build a Bridge" is by an all Irish male vocal band, called Westlife.

6) Throughout the laminin (DNA glue) that makes me, "me," there is my faith in God. I hear that song the loudest. Much of what I write about is in believing (even in and through the times you can't "see:") These stories and poems are scattered about in different "communities" on Vocal because there is yet to be a place called "Faith" there (but I still have hope:)

https://shopping-feedback.today/poets/how-god-and-i https://shopping-feedback.today/humans/true-love-38vr003k https://shopping-feedback.today/poets/untangle-our-mess https://shopping-feedback.today/poets/seeing-the-sea-rhd0a4h https://shopping-feedback.today/bookclub/even-in-the-wilderness https://shopping-feedback.today/bookclub/the-god-who-sees https://shopping-feedback.today/poets/give-them-spiritual-ears https://shopping-feedback.today/poets/no-denying https://shopping-feedback.today/poets/the-mysteries-of-convergence https://shopping-feedback.today/poets/weighing-it-by-hundreds https://shopping-feedback.today/poets/you-must-be-angry https://shopping-feedback.today/poets/soft-rain-wb4ne0o3z (also listed above)

This beautiful and comforting song, perfectly explains how faith brings peace to my soul...and then I can truly "see." Faith Above Fear from The Great Unknown album, Words and Music by Issa Rodriguez, Vocals by Vanya Castor, Visuals by Reymark Cristobal :

So, to sum this all up, 2024 has been a time of reflection for me. I've tried to build bridges from the patronage of my ancestors to the hopes of the futures of my grandchildren as I've walked through the struggles that today's world brings. That bridge is called Faith.