Today: Diamond or Rock?

Tom Petty. 20 October 1950 – 2 October 2017.

I had just watched Runnin’ Down a Dream for the zillionth time when he died. Okay, okay… you caught me. Most of the time, I don’t even watch the whole 4-hour-19-minute film. I just go straight to part when he talks about the almost magical way everything unfolded and brought him together with Jeff Lynne, George Harrison, Roy Orbison, and Bob Dylan.

1988. The Traveling Wilburys. As a longtime fan of Jeff Lynne and ELO (Electric Light Orchestra) as well as The Beatles and Roy Orbison, and a slight admirer of Bob Dylan, this was my dream team of musicians. Then there’s my dream duo – every collaboration between Tom and Jeff.

Whether Tom was just runnin’ down a dream or answering his soul’s deepest calling to write and perform music, the outcome is still the same – his story and his music inspire me. He had drive and determination. He recognized that something more, something mystical, was aligning all of the parts and pieces to come together.

Today is one of those days when I feel stuck, lost, and overwhelmed. I’m on a part of my journey that arrived sooner than I planned, but the best I can say is the source energy of this universe knows more than my head does. I’ve spent this entire year including today relying on my intuition (My instincts. My gut. The little voice that’s always right.) and recognizing signs even if they only become clear in retrospect.

Today’s Facebook memories reminded me that it’s been two years since Tom died. The meme pictured above was my way of using humor to cope with the loss of a great musician, and the pic below is my song of choice in tribute to him that day.

Perfect. Timing. Walls is the song I needed today. The soundtrack has two versions of which I prefer No. 3 over Circus. (Note: Runnin’ Down a Dream glosses over recording the soundtrack. I still have questions about how Lindsey Buckingham got involved!) Regardless of which version I listen to, two verses always resonate with me:

“Some days are diamonds, some days are rocks, some doors are open, some roads are blocked…”

“All around your island there’s a barricade that keeps in the danger, that holds in the pain…”

Walls by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers

Walls is a staple song in being all-zen-and-shit. Those two verses got me back on track.

By the way, over the years, I starting listening to the song with my heart instead of my ears. I finally arrived at the conclusion that maybe some days start off as diamonds or rocks, but at the end of the day, they’re all diamonds.

Luceat lux vestra.