Motto
by Gail
What would your motto would be for the place you’re at in your life right now? Is it different than it would have been five years ago? 10? 20?
I thought this writing prompt was interesting because of my instant response to it. My first response was what it would have been five, ten or twenty years ago. I immediately thought of the Rolling Stones song You Can’t Always Get What You Want. When I was between eighteen and twenty-eight-years-old, I remember feeling comfort in the chorus,
You can’t always get what you want
But if you try sometimes
You just might find
You get what you need
I even remember riding around my college campus in my roommate’s red Mustang convertible with the top down, this song blaring and me singing right along. During this period of my life I always felt acutely lost.
When my husband and I married, I no longer felt lost, but our first ten years together were quite difficult and I often felt very much alone. Marriage is a difficult thing. I remember still clinging to the chorus of this song during this period like it was almost a spiritual anthem for me. I could sing along and gain not only comfort, but strength from the words and music.
A little more than five years ago, though, I started feeling like I not only didn’t have what I wanted, but I wasn’t getting what I needed, either. I remember dancing to Paula Cole’s song, Where Have All The Cowboys Gone? with my young children nearby and feeling totally disconnected. Completely lost.
Where Have All The Cowboys Gone?
Oh you get me ready in your 56 Chevy
Why don’t we go sit down in the shade
Take shelter on my front porch
The dandy lion sun scorching,
Like a glass of cold lemonade
I will do laundry if you pay all the bills
CHORUS:
Where is my John Wayne
Where is my prairie song
Where is my happy ending
Where have all the cowboys gone
Why don’t you stay the evening
Kick back and watch the TV
And I’ll fix a little something to eat
Oh I know your back hurts from working on the tractor
How do you take your coffee my sweet
I will raise the children if you pay all the bills
(Chorus)
I am wearing my new dress tonight
But you don’t, but you don’t even notice me
Say goodbyes
Say goodbyes
Say goodbyes
We finally sell the Chevy
When we had another baby
And you took the job in Tennessee
You made friends at the farm
And you joined them at the bar
Almost every single day of the week
(Chorus)
I will wash the dishes while you go have a beer
Where is my Marlboro man
Where is his shiny gun
Where is my lonely ranger
Where have all the cowboys gone
Yippee yo, yippee yeah
Today, though, I was listening to the Jars of Clay remake of America’s Lonely People and I couldn’t help but think that my life is so good today. My husband and I will have been married sixteen years this summer, we have two beautiful children and I no longer feel lost or lonely. I think this would come as close to a motto or, perhaps I should say an anthem, as anything for my life today.
Lonely People
This is for all the lonely people
Thinking that life has passed them by
Don’t give up until you drink from the silver cup
And ride that highway in the sky
This is for all the single people
Thinking that love has left them dry
Don’t give up until you drink from the silver cup
You never know until you try
Well, I’m on my way
Yes, I’m on my way
Well, I’m on my way back home
This is for all the lonely people
Thinking that life has passed them by
Don’t give up until you drink from the silver cup
And never take you down or never give you up
You never know until you try
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