Five more acts of love

1. Connection: a Twitter exchange that brought the absolute geek out, in which I tweeted, "Loaning @ifyouknewthen to @rural_sultan today so he can experience the essay magic, particularly 'First.'" And Ryan Van Meter (aka @ifyouknewthen, author of If You Knew Then What I Know Now, one of my favorite books of 2011) responded, "I like the term 'essay magic.' Makes me think of silk scarves and bunnies being pulled from a piece of paper.'" Connection!

2. For weeks now I've had the new Snow Patrol album Fallen Empires on repeat in the car, learning its language and personality like I have each one since Final Straw in 2003. I wrote the following from a prompt this week in Writers' Night Out:

The first time I heard Snow Patrol's "Called Out in the Dark" I was in my office at home, struggling with unhappiness and loneliness. I hadn't felt like dancing in months, but the music video called for it. In the video, Gary Lightbody tried to sing, tried to be the star, but he kept getting pushed out. The dancers were simple, the moves simple, the beat and melody in major key. "It like we just can't help ourselves." I danced down the hall, put the video on repeat. I needed an anthem, something to cling to and help me move forward. I needed something to call me out of the dark of my own, felt like I hadn't smiled in months, like I hadn't been myself in years. The song became my trigger for movement, the auditory signal to smile. Just days later I adopted my dog Scooter, his face the visual equivalent of song, his whines signals I should sing and react, his eyes cues to laugh. I have lived with this album for weeks now. I'm learning its story like a lover. I know how it says hello with a soft jolt, how it exits without words.

There's one line in "Lifening" that I've been singing as "An island in the World Cup, either North or South" and puzzling over it. An island, I thought, not tied to anything else. Okay. But then yesterday I heard it in a different way as I was driving and laughed, hitting the steering wheel in happy realization. It's "Ireland in the World Cup," silly! Of course, that's Snow Patrol's home. (Also, SP tickets bought for April 2 in Atlanta: a birthday pilgrimage, of sorts.)

3. Across the lake, a white and black creature sniffing the ground, morning steam rising from the water, thinking skunk against the brown needles of the ground, staring at the only wild skunk I've ever seen until it spread its wings and walked toward the water to swim.

4.  Cinnamon roll and coffee, legs warmed by the sun, and two hours to read alone.

5. A big arrow in Quiet on p. 135 near the top with the note, "This is where I realized I'm dreaming again and what it means." To dream is everything. To have a book help you understand how and why that is is powerful. To be in a place where you are once again the person you know yourself to be is an incredible relief.