Dreams & Tears

My Sunday morning radio
Plays songs both sweet and sad
Sending my thoughts strolling
Through the youth that I once had
The world "back when" was different
And yet it was the same
We laughed and loved and dreamed.
It all circles 'round again.

I love early weekend mornings when I'm the only one up, the lights are low, and the radio is softly playing mellow songs from the decades of my youth.  I think having time to let your mind wander and reflect on your life is an important part of maintaining balance and perspective on where you are right now and where you might be headed.  The things that you experienced in the past have helped make you who you are right now, whether they were mostly good things or mostly not so good things.  How you responded to those life events plays into your sense of optimism or pessimism right now.  If you can look back on challenges and find something beneficial in them, you probably are an optimistic person in general.  Of course, there are some things that happen in people's lives that are so terrible that finding the good in them is like looking for a needle in a haystack, even if you are an optimistic person. 

I've been lucky enough to have had a life that while it challenged me at times, has not been awful.  I've always been the kind of person who can laugh at life most of the time and see the humorous side of a difficult time.  There have been plenty of times that I was brought to tears, of course.  Tears of frustration, disappointment, fear, pain, and anger have all fallen from my eyes and run down my cheeks throughout the years.  Relationships ending, loved ones dying, and dreams going unfulfilled have all brought me to tears.  I wouldn't be human if I never cried, would I? But I've shed tears of relief,  laughter, joy, and wonder as well during my lifetime.  I've dreamed of things I wanted and when those dreams came true, such as getting married, having children, and reaching a goal, the happy tears flowed freely.

The music playing on the radio in the early hours brings me back to times when I was young and full of plans and dreams, some realistic and some outrageous.  That hasn't changed.  I still have dreams and plans that are by turns doable and impossible.  You never know, though, how things will really turn out except that one day you'll be up early, taken back in time by music, and smiling a little to yourself about days gone by.