Time in a Bottle

Listen while you read:  https://youtu.be/mhL36vP_lv4

If I could save time in a bottle
The first thing that I'd like to do
Is to save every day 'til eternity passes away
Just to spend them with you

If I could make days last forever
If words could make wishes come true
I'd save every day like a treasure and then
Again, I would spend them with you

But there never seems to be enough time
To do the things you want to do once you find them
I've looked around long enough to know
That you're the one I want to go through time with

If I had a box just for wishes
And dreams that had never come true
The box would be empty except for the memory
Of how they were answered by you

~  Jim Croce

This one is for my dear friend Amy, whose husband, John, died four years ago today. "Time in a Bottle" was sung at a celebration of John's life and pretty much sums up how Amy feels about her loss. I think most of you can identify with the song, too. Such is the complexity of this life.

Traveling back decades to retrieve this song, I was struck again by the ironies inherent in its release. Croce says that the lyrics came to him when his wife, Ingrid, told him that she was pregnant. Their son, Adrian, was born in 1971. The song was released on Croce's successful 1972 album, You Don't Mess Around with Jim. But it wasn't until it was featured in a made-for-TV movie that it garnered more attention. And around the same time, in September 1973, Jim Croce died in a plane crash at age 30. The song was released as a single after his death and eventually hit #1 on the charts.

And what about Adrian? He is featured in the video that accompanies the linked song. Adrian became a singer / songwriter in his own right, going by the name A. J. Croce. Life has a way of apologizing for its fickle disregard of our attachments.

In a conversation with Amy yesterday, she commented that now, four years later, her emotions are no longer "raw." But there is always that "dull ache." Yes. I think she described that accurately. Very few of us navigate this life without that dull ache, and of course, we experience it in varying degrees. It is worth contemplating why pain and sorrow are offered so abundantly in this human experience. I suppose the only way to counter the pain is to look for the joy. Amy has recently become a grandmother again, this time to a baby girl. And there's her joy.

We cannot save time in a bottle. Days will not last forever. Words cannot make wishes come true. The best we can do is savor the joy that we find. It may be harder to find on some days than others, but it can also find us. Be open to it. And offer some up to someone else.

Where did you find joy today? And what joy did you give to someone else? If you can answer both of those questions, you're doing okay.