What's Tony Thinking

Can We Just Take a Moment?

Can we take just a moment to say, “What a wonderful world!”

It is the words of the Louis Armstrong song that have been on my mind, in my heart, as we open like blooming flowers into what, for growing numbers, is the post-pandemic world.

Yes, I know, there’s still plenty to fret about, to worry over. The pandemic rages on in some places. Too many who could be vaccinated aren’t. The Republicans seem determined to host civic malignancy and put the body politic at risk. And 15% of Americans buy into QAnon. Lord, have mercy!

And yet at our granddaughter, Cora’s, fifth birthday party last evening it was Satchmo’s words that seemed truest:

I see friends shaking hands
Saying, “How do you do?”
They’re really saying
“I love you”

Can we just take a moment to say, “Thanks a lot!”

It’s my favorite Raffi song. Years ago I told Linda I’d like it at my funeral. It’s a simple song. “Thank you” is about the whole of it. If you open the video you’ll see children with their eyes closed as they listen or sing along.

The final words are,

Thanks a lot,
Thanks for all I’ve got.
Thanks for all I’ve got.

Maybe coming back will remind you too of “all we’ve got.” Note too: everything the song gives thanks for we share in common, sky, clouds, wind, birds in the air . . .

I know, I know . . . climate change still weighs heavy. There’s a drought in the west and most everyone is worrying about wildfires after a dry spring. Violent crime is up. And we’re trying to figure out a way to really deal with homelessness in Seattle.

But this evening the fellas in my book group are coming over for dinner. Our first face-to-face meeting since February of 2020. Oh, we’ve kept on reading, zooming every month. By being on Zoom we even got a couple of authors to join us. Not all bad. Not at all.

But together again is good. And Linda has a strawberry/ rhubarb pie in the oven.

Can we just take a moment to say, “It’s Delightful.” Listen to Ella Fitzgerald singing Cole Porter’s classic, “It’s De-Lovely.”

Well, by now, you’ve got my point. We’re coming out. Standing a little straighter. Walking a little taller. We’re seeing each other. Talking together across the table. Maybe like Lazarus, emerging from the tomb, we’re still a little cramped up, bound by so many days and hours under wraps. It may take a while to unwind, unbind.

But I just wanted to ask, can we take a moment to say — despite it all — life is good. Life is beautiful. Life is a gift.