Pieces of April

Listen while you read:  Pieces of April

April gave us springtime
And the promise of the flowers
And the feeling that we both shared
And a love that we called ours

We knew no time for sadness
That's a road we each had crossed
We were living a time meant for us
And even when it would rain, we would laugh it off

I've got pieces of April
I keep 'em in a memory bouquet
I've got pieces of April
It's a morning in May

~  Dave Loggins (Three Dog Night)

It's an overcast, breezy Sunday, and I am reaching into the way-back machine to bid farewell to April. I used to think this was such a pretty song, but I admit to being slightly disappointed when I found it this morning. I guess it doesn't reach me the way it did when I was twenty-two! But it's still okay, and it allows me to be reflective about my own "pieces of April."

Dave Loggins of Three Dog Night wrote this for the band's November 1972 release, Seven Separate Fools.  (I just realized that was the same month that my father died, perhaps giving me some insight into why the song mattered to me?) Written about his break-up with the "love of my life," Loggins had this to say about it: "May is symbolic of the present. April was, and still remains, a sweet yesterday."

Depends on how you look at it. Politically, there was nothing sweet about this April, unless one considers the ever-growing resistance that provides many of us with hope. That, and what we expect to be revenge for Russian interference in our democracy with the help of certain members of the current administration, is sweet. Wait for it. (Cue The Kinks: "So tired, tired of waiting, tired of waiting for . . . ")

Today, on the 101st day of this nightmare we have had to endure, let's hope that this jigsaw puzzle soon has the last piece in place to dismantle this dangerous threat to our democracy. The pieces that were put into place in April, especially in regard to Michael Flynn, have allowed a coherent picture to emerge. We can only hope that there are no missing pieces to prevent us from completing the case against him and his co-conspiritors.

Yeah, okay, I admit it . . . I did a jigsaw puzzle yesterday. I'll take whatever distractions I can find.