Oh, this. This makes my heart thankful.
It’s a good thing I was the only one in the office Wednesday afternoon, because I clicked this link and within two minutes I was sobbing into a wad of tissues.
Yes, I know it’s an ad for a bank. Yes, I know it’s a year old. Yes, I know it’s all staged. But that doesn’t make it not beautiful.
Take five minutes away from the bustle of today and let yourself travel to this bright town square in Spain. Let the Ode to Joy start small and let it grow in your chest, let it leak out of your eyes and make your shoulders shake. It’s joy. That’s the path joy takes. Joy doesn’t start with the crescendo. It begins with a single note. That’s why it’s hard to spot sometimes in its early stages.
Ode to Joy, from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, is my favorite piece of music, #1, hands down, not even close. That’s why I chose it for the recessional music when Fartbuster and I got married. And why I chose it as the recessional music when Richard and I got married.
Then a short while later, his parents and I were planning his memorial service with the priest and there in the list of suggested music for the recessional was “Ode to Joy.” Joy? At a funeral?
I chose it. (wait…gotta do some more crying…)
I don’t remember everything from that service, but I do remember the way that music swelled from the organ after all the words had been said. I remember the soaring sound made by hundreds of our friends and family as they sang the modern English lyrics: ”Ever singing march we onward, Victors in the midst of strife; Joyful music lifts us sunward in the triumph song of life!” I felt a great sense of relief that the service had been perfectly fitting for Richard. I felt…joy. Joy at having had that one thing go right. The music carried me out of the sanctuary and on to the next part of life.
I wish you joy today. Among all the leftovers and hangovers and overdrafts and overpasses–STOP. Like those people in the square in Spain, all they had to do was stop and listen to joy.
Now cut me some white meat and pass the cranberry sauce!
Great way to start the day. Thank you.
Give your girls a hug from me!
Good to make a transition to tears of joy from tears of despondency. Thank you.
Any time, my friend. Sit in a sunny window today for a while and know that you are loved.