Well...
I put up this prompt not having any idea what I'd write about. As I started thinking about it and working through the suggested exercises, I was fairly certain I was going to write the road trip part of a planned story, and submit it. I made great strides in forming the story and coming to agreement on how a conflict would be handled, and it all looked good.
But I kept putting off writing it. Somewhere inside of me, I kept hearing a little voice tell me that I was supposed to base this prompt on a song. For the life of me, I had no idea what that meant.
Today I was determined to write before I went to yoga. That's when my previous idea completely evaporated. I knew what I had planned was not what I was to submit here. Yes, I need to get that story written -- but this wasn't the platform.
I went to yoga with the question on my mind -- what road trip could I write about? I seemed to know after all the work I put into the fiction piece I wasn't up to coming up with another fiction idea. Leave it to yoga to help clear the space. Something came to me right away, and I knew it was right. And yes -- a song is involved.
That January
Saturday, 1982
You took to the road with husband and friends
In their minivan, small children left at home
This was a day for adults, the aim to enter a winter
Wonderland, road trip to Sandusky for some kind
Of winter festival, a way to pass the time in the
Dreary mid-winter Ohio freezing cold numbness
Early on in the trip a pop-rock song by a popular
Cleveland band came on the radio, and it would
Be the harbinger of so much to come for you…
When your heart says
it’s right
You gotta listen to
what it’s saying
And in the back seat of that minivan
Somehow all the years of holding back,
Being fearful, not wanting to rock any boats
Or upset any apple carts or any other clichés
That kept women from living their full lives,
Anchored to the shore, unable to step out
And away, discouraged from being brave,
Melted away with the words of the song
It had been a way of life for you, yet here you were
On this cold January day, surrounded by white space
And music and the words that entered your heart
At that moment and have never left, even today
When your heart says
it’s right
You gotta listen to
what it’s saying
Just let it lead you
to love
Love of self, love of freedom, love of release
Love of seeing yourself differently. It all
Happened so quickly, so unexpectedly
A feeling so warm and powerful you felt like you
Must be glowing right there in the car
You hummed that tune all day
When your heart says
it’s right
Not knowing why
Just feeling happy happy
(Which means more happiness than
One word can contain)
That Saturday, that winter day
You recall nothing more than the Universe
speaking the words directly into your soul
Which would begin to lift you, change you…
You gotta listen to
what it’s saying
You didn’t even know what it was saying,
You just knew it was right, perfect
And the façade was cracking right there
In that minivan, although the actual break
Was still weeks away
Let it lead you to
love
Love of momentum, love of newness
Love of re-creation, love of strength
Dropping all those binding expectations
Not willing to cry anymore or wait
You took a step inside yourself that day
On the road to Sandusky and back
You carry no other memory of that day,
Of meals or activities or conversations
All you have left is the feeling
The everlasting happy happy feeling
The Excited
Majestic
Glorious
Up-lifting feeling
Of letting go of something yet undefined
That January Saturday in 1982
You gave yourself permission to
Listen to your heart no matter what
The freedom of trust in yourself to write a
New life, new experiences, set your own
Parameters, own what’s inside you
Live a life you had never dared dream before
One in which you would learn to always
Let the universe play its part and
Lead you to love
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