Stop and smell the roses. Count your blessings. Start a gratitude journal. Great ideas. But they’re a bit vague and presuppose that we can find some roses, blessings, or gratitude. What about those days when we can’t find any of those things? What do we do then?

I’m beginning my 18th month of Anosmia (loss of smell) and Ageusia (loss of taste). Most days I can manage to not focus on the emotional loss this has been for me. Although I spent years mastering sauces and spice combinations, I’ve had to accept that that is in the past. Not dwelling on something I can’t fix, has been the most helpful tactic. There is nothing to solve after all. I still have to eat. I still have to be aware of dangers such as: fire, gas leaks, chemical fumes, or sneaky skunks.

Today is one of the bad days. They happen to all of us. I was thinking that maybe I should talk about my now, and what I do when I find myself here. Music is always part of the answer. I can wallow with certain songs. I can get angry with others. So the music I choose matters. It matters because I can let it drag me down to the depths and rise again from that sad place to a place with a bit more light. Or if I don’t need the immersion, I can get my feet moving, and my head bobbing, to get my mind moving. Today, I’ve got to sit with the blues a bit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5STiGVML4g

Hi-de Ho – Blood, Sweat & Tears

Hi-de-ho, hi-de-hi
Gonna get me a piece of the sky
Gonna get me some of that old sweet roll
Singing hi-de-hi-de-hi-de-hi-di-ho
 
Listen, I’ve been down so low
That the bottom looked like up
Once I felt like second saves
Was enough to fill my cup
Now I’ve offered all I have
But it ain’t no way to live
Being taken by the ones who got
The least amount to give
 
Singing hi-de-ho, hi-de-hi
Gonna get me a piece of the sky
Gonna get me some of that old sweet roll
Singing hi-de-hi-de-hi-de-hi-de-ho
 
Once I met the devil
He was mighty slick
Tempted me with worldly goods
Said I could have my pick
But when he laid the paper on me
And showed me where to sign
I said “Thank you very kindly
But I’m in too great a need of mine”
 
hi-de-ho, hi-de-hi, oh
Gonna get me a piece of that sky
Gonna get me some of that old sweet roll
Singing hi-de-hi-de-hi-de-hi-de-ho, yeah
Hi-de-hi-de-ho
Hi-de-hi-de-ho, yeah
Hi-de-hi-de-ho
Hi-de-hi-de-hi
Talking ’bout hi-de-hi-de-ho

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Carole King / Gerry Goffin

Another thing is to keep going. Find something, anything, that you are needed for. It could be volunteering. It could be responsibilities you have taken on your shoulders. My responsibilities and promises have been my handrail to lean on. One of these is that I decided that I would write here every single Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, no matter what else happens. So here I am. There’s some tears and I’m definitely not my usual self. It doesn’t matter that I can’t taste or smell when I write. In most ways, and to most of the world, whether I can taste or smell is not apparent. I could say that they don’t care but someone has to know to care. That would be a false claim that wouldn’t help the situation and therefore not what I choose to do.

On to something I love to sing. Singing helps and it usually brightens my mood. If you sing, don’t let anyone silence your voice. I sing the Ella part. Louis goes just too low for my range.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HJCN3upMHE

Summertime – Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong

[Verse 1: Ella Fitzgerald]
Summertime
And the livin’ is easy
Fish are jumpin’
And the cotton is high
Oh, your daddy’s rich
And your ma is good lookin’
So hush, little baby
Don’t you cry

[Verse 2: Louis Armstrong]
One of these mornin’s
You gonna rise up singing
Yes, you’ll spread your wings
And you’ll take to the skies
Mmm, but ’til that morning
There’s nothin’ can harm you
Yes, with daddy and mammy standin’ by

[Verse 1: Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong]
Summertime
And the livin’ is easy
Fish are jumpin’
And the cotton is high
Oh, your daddy’s rich (Daddy’s rich)
And your ma is good lookin’ (Your ma is good lookin’)
So hush, little baby (Oh, yes)
Baby, don’t you cry

[Outro: Louis Armstrong & Ella Fitzgerald]
Oh, don’t you cry
Oh, don’t you cry (Don’t you cry)
Oh, don’t you cry
Oh, don’t you cry

Wise words can be found in movies. Don’t sit in it until your fingers get all pruny.

Tears are completely acceptable. I say this, although I hate crying.

Time to move my feet and figure out the grocery list. Since losing taste and smell, texture is paramount. The quality of baked goods available where I live is atrocious. Baking my own bread, English muffins, & bagels gives me some sense of agency in the kitchen. We all find our paths through the dark. Don’t give up.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” – Lao Tzu

And finally, finding my light again with Seventeen. 호시X우지 (SEVENTEEN) ‘동갑내기’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEBHjYQ8HoI

Hangul

우리 둘이 뭉침 호우 주의
첫 만남은 코찔찔이 중2 (96)
호시 Baby (Uh huh)
우지 Baby
All I wanna do baby you know?
Baby just like this

무대 위 범생이 퍼지는 My typing
월 화 수 목 금 토 일 멜로디로 차 있지

손오공 중에 우두머리죠
96 하면 용띠 형들 다음 우리죠
질투 나도 욕은 하지 말아 줘
우리처럼 해 봐요 Just like this
Just like this
Just like this
Just like this
우리처럼 해 봐요 동갑내기

치키치키 Boom
(Pull up, pull up, pull up) Gotcha
치키치키 Boom
(Pull up, pull up, pull up) Gotcha

손오공 중에 우두머리죠
96 하면 용띠 형들 다음 우리죠
질투 나도 욕은 하지 말아 줘
우리처럼 해 봐요 Just like this

호랑이 눈빛 Baby I’m worth it
나 자꾸 오버해도 말리지 마 지후이
OG들의 뉴비 OG가 됐지
떴다 떴다 비행기 호시와 우지

우리 둘이 뭉침 호우 주의
첫 만남은 코찔찔이 중2
돈은 벌어도 We never business
좋다 조화
(Baby just like this)

손오공 중에 우두머리죠
96 하면 용띠 형들 다음 우리죠
질투 나도 욕은 하지 말아 줘
우리처럼 해 봐요 Just like this
Just like this
Just like this
Just like this
우리처럼 해 봐요 동갑내기

치키치키 Boom
(Pull up, pull up, pull up) Gotcha
치키치키 Boom
(Pull up, pull up, pull up) Gotcha

손오공 중에 우두머리죠
96 하면 용띠 형들 다음 우리죠
질투 나도 욕은 하지 말아 줘
Pull up, pull up, pull up, pull up, pull up

Wait a minute 호우 왔어 (Whoa)
머리 위로 우릴 적셔 (Whoa)
흔들어 모두 Mess up (Whoa)
Here we go, here we go, here we go

Brothers & Sisters (Whoa)
모두 춤에 몸을 맡겨 (Whoa)
서로에게 엉겨 붙어 (Whoa)
Here we go, here we go, here we go

At the party 잔에
건배 (건배) Salute (-Lute),
you can be like me (Oh)
At the party 잔에
건배 (건배) Salute (-Lute),
you can be like me
(Pull up, pull up, pull up, pull up, pull up)

무대 위에서는 개쩌는 캐릭터
평소와는 다르게 난리 나지요
Nerdy boys pretty boys 맞는 말이요
우리처럼 해 봐요 Just like this (Yes sir)
Just like this (Uh huh c’mon)
Just like this (Yeah baby) (호우 주의)

우리처럼 해 봐요 동갑내기