Tuesday, March 15, 2011

When checking out isn't at 12 noon...

In an age of constant unexpected change with even less importance put on the value of an incredible memory; if deeply challenged beyond physical control is there something in your possession blessed with the strength to reignite your imagination?

A song, the artist that drew the individual strings together, a wedding ring, an unforgettable scent of perfume or cologne your back or front yard or the eyes of a Teddy Bear whose stare had the power to melt away the evils that surrounded tough teenage decisions?

The soon to be released independent film Never Stopped the Music has set sail on an open sea of becoming the answer a search engine connects with in the department of remaking memories.

Stolen from the realms of normal by a large brain tumor Gabriel Sawyer has no past, present or future; only parents whose denial opens a never ending door of locating rhymes that match reasons. Without destroying the emotion of the movie, music is the possession in Gabriel’s life that’s blessed with the strength to reignite an imagination.

Although it would be extremely difficult for doctors to predict what would invite peace back into your mind body and soul; what elements have you given permission to that’ll allow them to continue circling even in times of out of control stress?

In 2004 Carolina native Nicolas Sparks shook our senses into place by putting the importance of journaling on the front burner of constantly keeping in touch with the stories we live by turning them into tales we might one day share when age and disease get the best of us.

For me it might be the scent of acrylic paint placed on blizzard white pages then rushed into hiding only to be rediscovered many months later while searching for a quote in tablets overwritten by thoughts assumed understandable.

The moment I open the protective boxes that keep the wind and sun from the art the middle aged man hairs in my nose race to take a glance at the bitter dry aroma that always says to me, “Welcome back Mr. Poet with a paint brush filled with many colors!”

Last week I wrapped these ten finger prints known for tapping words on computer screens around my second degree black belt for the first time in nearly a year; like Gabriel I could see places I’ve been, hear feet breaking bricks and toes being crushed by heals that didn’t pivot while delivering a solid round house kick into a leather bag designed to reconstruct the walls every human relies on to keep them to reaching their dreams come true.

But would it be enough to pull from me a memory to make the day and or night normal like it did for Gabriel in Never Stopped the Music?

If there was to be an emergency kit your family and friends were to grab during a crisis not yet invented; what single string would you place in between everything materialistic that would gift you with peace the moment your eyes met like love blossoms during its first kiss during a slow paced southern summer’s night?

Maybe its time to begin the journey to communicate… Husbands and wives share so much but where do we stand in reality when the divorce rate is above 52%?

Dave Matthews might be onto something when he causally blurts out, “Hike up your skirt and show your world to me.” Maybe the true message has nothing to do with what you assume and poetically it's saying, “Forever comes with a long thin string and two tin cans…share with me what creates a memory required to catch you on a day when you are falling.”

If deeply challenged beyond physical control is there something in your possession blessed with the strength to reignite your imagination?

32 years of nonstop radio and only five songs rock my Richter scale: Love Hurts from Nazareth, Chicago’s If You Leave Me Now, Got to Get You Into My Life from the Beatles, Everybody Hurts from REM and Mad World from Adam Lambert.

I feel for my wife and dogs…If caught between two shapes and this was the only thing played over and over again the art of love better be strong or someone please call that special place at the hospital and let them know Lee will be checking into their Hotel California.

Don’t just make a list…make it visible. Don’t just write it down…share your story so that it can be carried.

I’ll always believe in you first…

arroecollins@clearchannel.com

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