David J Bauman

I am out the door in just a few minutes with the youngest of my three incredible sons. I’ve been pretty busy lately, mostly in some very good and productive ways (look for an upcoming post about that called, “Where the Heck Did National Poetry Month Go?”), but also in some of those dull and plodding gotta-do-what-ya-gotta-do ways. One the good side there has been the “new” job (a year now this month!), and the newer job of free-lance editing with a lot of exciting stuff in the works for the near future.

The downside has to do with car repairs (the whole damn family’s cars! Seriously), and an old side-job that really should have ended a long time ago. Hard to say no though when the bills come to the door. Keeping lights on and such is important, but it’s not the whole picture. It becomes critical perhaps, the day-to-day, and sometimes it’s a little hard letting go of a sure thing (even if it is killing your knees!) that pays the bills for a risk that will make dreams come true. Sigh. Forgive the ambiguity, but as I said, I’m almost out the door this morning.

This week I want to share a few things that have been an encouragement, a life-line really for me. These include, of course, my sons, my Brian, poetry, and even a little bird-watching, but also some precious time spent with dear friends from over seas last month. I’ve been on a kick of reading tons of “mindfulness poems” lately, and I’ll share more of that too.

But for today, this Music Monday, here is a beloved man whom I cannot wait to one day meet in person. Mary Cigarettes has been so much more of an inspiration to me than he can know. The following videos are among the first of his that I watched several years back during post-forty life change. They still act as compass stars for me to keep me moving some nights. I forget that I have actually accomplished quite a lot, and have every likelihood of doing more if I don’t buy into my own self-criticism.