Eat, Drink, and Be Merry

I pose this question: how easy is it to become wrapped up in life?

The ordinary.

The mundane.

The routine.

The everyday.

The struggles.

Truth time: for me, this can happen rather easily. I often must--very consciously--force myself to step back and see the great value in the routine, ordinary, everyday life.

Working in Human Resources there are those moments when spontaneous conversation necessarily leads more into talk of what it means to be human and alive, rather than discussions about work. Today was just one of those times when I needed to have a general (and valuable) conversation about re-focusing priorities, putting one foot in front of the other, and taking each day as it comes. This general topic at the end of my work day was a reminder for both myself and another person as we shared different sides of our current perspectives and place in life.

I hurried out to my car to drive across Omaha and pick up Lily from daycare, continuing my ordinary, everyday, life-routine. But now, I was thinking about this person and the value of Carpe Diem and seizing the day, regardless of whatever life throws our way.

My regular and ordinary evening continued as Lily and I arrived at home. We let the dogs, Charlie and Lady, outside. I started cooking while firing up iTunes on the laptop. Lily and I discussed what we wanted to listen to and I randomized my favorite Dave Matthews Band songs. I must say that Lily also is forging a great appreciation for DMB. This makes me proud.

We were snacking on pear slices to stave off our hunger before dinner. Lily in her happy, carefree style, was dancing and swaying to the changing beats of the various DMB songs, munching on pears, and sipping water.

The third song was Tripping Billies by Dave Matthews Band.

"Eat, drink and be merry" is one of the common refrains in the song, giving me pause.

How true.

Carpe Diem: eat, drink, be merry.

Let the rest be.

I gazed at my dancing, happy daughter. She had much to teach me in that moment as she shoved a pear in her mouth, shoulders shimmying, a smile creeping across her face.

Often when Lily and I listen to Dave, I say "inappropriate" when the racy lyrics happen, which, let's face it, are often. Trippping Billies is no exception. Dave Matthews shed some light on the lyrics of this song on VHI back in the late 90's, saying it was about he and a group of friends on the beach after dropping LSD and "tripping". Apparently he also made a reference to "Puff the Magic Dragon," when talking about the song, which obviously--in true Dave Matthews style--is a slang reference to drug use and smoking marijuana. While never having ever "tripped billies" in my life, I still am a DMB fan despite many songs and lyrics focused on drug use.

Clearly inappropriate!

However, Lily and I danced away, eating (pears), drinking (water), and being merry because--as the rest of the song goes--"we will die."

Beyond Dave being on the beach tripping, the broader point of the song is to seize the day, enjoy the company of those around you, because it is just too easy to become wrapped up in the ordinary, mundane, routine, everyday struggles of life.

Cheers to life. And shamelessly rocking it out to Dave Matthews with a 15 month old.