El Loco Surgido

Future

A Semi-Serious Essay

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by

 

Michael McCaffery

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“El Loco”

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April 27, 2022

 

And so let us continue to investigate the unknowable while one of us has some brain/memory cells intact and some remnants of a sense of humor and perspective.

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(*Special Note)

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I am awaiting the Muse, who is coming later and later less and less often.  Fear not, however, as I have faith that there will be one more trip, at least, from Her.   I hope.

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El Loco

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And so the Muse did arrive today, with some slight encouragement by me, mostly consisting of being silent and listening and waiting, not always easy for me to do.  While doing so, I came across some reference somewhere - cannot recall where at this point - about songwriter and balladeer Mickey Newbury, whose songs spoke to me at a critical juncture in my life, and opened me up to experience and world of joy and peace.  This particular songs is available online by Googling the title and the writer/singer, and they resonate deeply within my soul.

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In honor of that, I wrote the following out of that experience, and as usual when I am "in the groove" the following words and thoughts were dictated to me as I sat at my laptop, and all I had to do was transcribe them.  This is what they magically and wondrously said, and they deserve a place on this website:

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The Future

Ain’t What It Used To Be

 

(With all due apologies to Mickey Newbury)

 

 

Another Whimsical Essay

 

by

 

Michael McCaffery

 

“El Loco”

 

April 27, 2022

 

 

“The Future Ain’t What It Used To Be” is a ballad by Mickey Newbury from some years back, meant to take a look at one’s future compared with one’s past desired futures and hopes and dreams.   It has a sort of a country-western laconic lament, as many of Mickey’s songs and ballads have, and I loved listening to his beautiful voice and poetry which resonated deeply within my soul back in the seventies and eighties.  Listening carefully and deeply to his resonant voice and heartfelt words, it was both inspiring and depressing, all at once - the two sides of the coin of life.  He spoke to me at a certain critical juncture in my life and I found a soulmate in him and his music, as did many others.

 

And as I near 78 years old, the words and feelings come rushing back, and I am grateful for the life I have led (while appropriately embarrassed by some of it), yet thankful for the opportunities to experience the whole range of emotions available to humans.  Those insights have resulted in an appreciation of the wonder, majesty, and beauty of life beyond anything I thought possible, and continue to sustain my ability to appreciate the miracle of life and being.  I am a very lucky and fortunate person to have had those opportunities to fully experience the wonder of life and love and appreciation.

 

As I peer into that future, I find that I am relatively content to simply appreciate “now” and not worry so much about the future, in that the future will take care of itself whether or not it listens to my wishes and desires.  That simple concept results in an experience of peace and gratitude that I never thought possible.

 

And so, for me, I simply trust the future now, and do not try to manipulate it, since that is clearly out of my hands, and rests somewhere else.  That attitude has brought peace, gratitude, wonder, and appreciation.  I am happy and content with that, and this is the secret I always thought possible, while fearing that it would not come, while at the same time noticing that here it is, right now.  I am simply grateful for that now.

 

As a good friend from long ago summed it up very simply long ago:

 

“It is now okay, always has been okay, and will always be okay.”

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Michael McCaffery

“El Loco”

April 27,2022

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