For good or for bad, I’ve established a bit of a morning ritual.  It gets me out of bed, showered, out of the house and food in my morning tummy so that’s good.  For bad, it costs me $5 every day.  The ritual is called Taco Shack and it’s right down the street from our my house.  Lately, I’ve been loading Kali into the convertible, too, to give her a little outside time.  She rides extremely well in the car and I’m pretty sure she enjoys the trip.  So, this morning, with Kali hangin’ in the car and me sitting outside at a picnic table eating my carne guisada breakfast taco (with a little added egg for protein), I had a moment.  I’ve talked about the emotions rolling like waves.  Well, this wave just damn near knocked me off my plastic seat.

Music has always been a significant part of my life.  I connect with songs on an emotional level.  Some songs reach out and smack me viscerally.  But I’ve never been hit quite this hard before.  I suppose that, before now, I’ve never had such pent up emotion ready to explode.  So, I’m sitting there minding my own business, eating my taco and the radio starts playing The Call – Let the Day Begin.  Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve heard that song and it’s always been one that’s I felt a connection to – a powerful song.  But this time, whoa, this time it was different.  Yes, I know you are trying to sing it in your head right now (IF you were born before 1980, otherwise you’ve probably already googled the lyrics and/or downloaded the song.)  Let me save you some effort.  The verse in the chorus that just slapped me silly (gawd, I’m crying as I type this):

“Here’s to you, My Love, with blessings from above.  Now, let the day begin.”

(The actual line is “Here’s to you, my little loves…” but I like it better my way.  More personal.)

There could not have been a sharper arrow shot more true directly into my heart.  Dead center.  I just burst into tears at the Taco Shack.  It’s really hard to eat when you’re crying.

The whole song, really, just sounds like my sweetie.  It’s like she was saying thank you to everyone.  But, most importantly, it’s like she was saying thank you to me.  “Thank you for taking care of me.  Now get your ass in gear because you’ve got a lot to do.”  Geesh.  It’s the happiest sad moment I’ve had in a long time.  I’m smiling through my tears.

I don’t pretend for one second that this is a Maggie Kiss.   No way.  That silly girl couldn’t tell The Call from The Clash.  Heck, I’m not sure she could tell The Call from The Cure.  This definitely ain’t a song in her song book.  For her to find this particular song with this particularly timely and poignant message, she would have had to have sifted through books of lyrics for a month and I know her too well for that.  She’s off exploring new places, meeting people, and making everything better for everyone in heaven.  No time for silly song messages to me or anyone else.  But that little belief of mine doesn’t in any way protect me from the huge tidal wave of emotion I didn’t see coming.  Wow.  Knocked me off my feet.  I’m still crying as I type this with the song on repeat.