It is amazing how one song can bring you back to a place and time…

I was leaving for work this morning and I heard the legendary Garth Brooks was coming back to Minneapolis to perform this November.  When Mike got sick, I found a few of his songs brought me great comfort; specifically “Standing Outside the Fire“. I must tell you; until today I had never seen the video though I just imagined a kid trying to make it beyond all the odds because that is how I felt when I heard the song (I guess I was right)! I would listen to it cranked up in the car when I was feeling my most sad about Mike’s illness and my life in general. It’s upbeat tempo helped get me into a better mood and the words…they spoke to me like I am sure a song has spoken to you at some point in your life.

“Life is not tried, it is merely survived
If you’re standing outside the fire”

After the announcement today the radio station played “Standing Outside the Fire” and I again cranked up the radio in the car and belted out the song…thank goodness no one could hear me sing as I am sure I sounded terribly off-key, but it felt so refreshing and rejuvenating.   The song brought me back to the time of life when Mike was sick, though it now brought new meaning too…I might be a fool to some when it comes to falling in love again or really living my life fully in general, but I know the REWARD is worth the risk. I have lived both in and out of the fire per say, and I would much rather dance with the flame than miss this life by letting is pass me by.

I added the song back to my playlist so tomorrow morning I can again belt out the very song that helped me find slivers of hope during my darkest days and now I know that I am NOT “standing outside the fire” of life.

What song brings you back to a time and place and how does it make you feel? Good or bad?

Are you dancing with the flame of life or are you “standing outside the fire“?

Lyn

P.S. I want to always be truly authentic so I will tell you that after they played “Standing Outside the Fire“, they played “The Dance” and I broke down into sobs; I even had to pull over to regain my composure before I continued to drive. That was the last song that Mike & I ever danced too at my brother & sister-in-laws wedding about 3 months before he died…how hauntingly true are the lyrics. I wouldn’t change a thing though if I could go back – never in a million years.

“And now I’m glad I didn’t know

The way it all would end, the way it all would go

Our lives are better left to chance

I could have missed the pain, but I’d have had to miss the dance”