Landslide
Do you remember being a teenager? Everything seemed so real. You would lay on your bed and listen to lyrics of a song, and feel like someone else knew what it was like to live. And you would sing "These are the Days" with all the ferocity and intention of a fifteen year old...but maybe you were just singing because you actually knew the lyrics for once. Somehow, it felt like playing catch up...but even though there was so much out there to learn, you still felt like you knew it all. And when an adult (much worse your parent) tried to tell you that they knew what it felt like to be your age, you knew they didn't. The couldn't. And you would roll your inner eyes, and know that what you were feeling was different - and bigger - and real.
Well, this morning I heard Landslide by Fleetwood Mac, and remembered discovering this song. Loving this song. But, as I listened to it fifteen years later, I realized that I finally understood it. I know what a Landslide feels like, and feel like I've been asking, "Oh, mirror in the sky/What is love/Can the child within my heart rise above/Can I sail thru the changing ocean tides/Can I handle the seasons of my life?"
I felt it, and got it. Isn't it funny how it takes life, the actual living of it, to really get it. And that all of my teenage angst was just the start. I wonder what the end feels like?
9 comments:
That's why I love watching my grandparents. They're there.
The other day, I talked to my dad on the phone. He commented that life just keeps getting better. Another friend in her 60s made a similar comment. I'm excited to get there. Not that I want to skip now (OK, I could do with missing the next month -- I'm super allergic to springtime in Wisconsin), just that I believe them.
its true, i believe now. i know that i don't know it all, and i'm ok with it, and i see those ahead of me and can't wai!
Ang, you're speaking (writing) my language. I remember listening to "These Are Days" over and over...and thinking that my 16 year old life was IT. That those were the days...how little I knew about how full and wonderful and challenging and beautiful life would get with time. I love the idea that there's still so much ahead to learn and experience.
Thanks for a beautiful post, and for being my friend at 8, 15, and 30. I hope we can sit on a porch sipping lemonade when we're old and gray...and talk about the days we remember.
hannah, its a gray-haired date!
I loved this post. I have been thinking a lot about being a teenager (reading end of semester papers from freshmen). It's funny how much they know of the world and how little, and how transformative this time is for them.
I wish sometimes I had the fire I had as a teenager to deal with the landslides. So very well put by you--rarely when you are a teenager do you know what a real life event is, but that's when you have the energy to deal with them. Hopefully what we have later is maturity, and if we're lucky, wisdom.
Angie you amaze me over and over again. Thanks.
Awesome post Angie. I love this song! Thanks for sharing. You are wonderful.
I love that song and your post was beautifully written. And so true. There are so many poems and songs that I re-read or listen to again and they have new meaning for me now. I guess that's the marker of good art right?
you have such a perfect way of expressing yourself. let's hope one day we can look back, when the pain of the landslides are gone, and we'll see them as a beautiful thing. a new beginning, a season of growth.
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