Everything Is Gonna Be Alright
Bob Marley got me through college.
No, I am not talking about contraband. I mean Bob Marley and his band, The Wailers, and their prophet-like words (lyrics). They played to me at times when I really, really needed to hear them.
I'm a liberal arts girl, and although while in college I excelled in math, science classes reduced me to a stressed-out, blubbering mess, especially before exam time. I couldn't even re-sell my Human Anatomy textbook because I threw it against the wall so many times during the semester of hell in which I tried to read it.
But the day before my myology exam - the exam which scared me the most - I found and picked up a penny (heads, not tails, up) right outside of the classroom. More importantly, that morning, at work, I had heard a song I'd listened to hundreds of times, but the words had never sunk in.
I was standing in the employee lounge where I worked, getting coffee, and the speakers were tuned in to a local station, 91X, that played "No Woman, No Cry."
Bob Marley sung, over and over, "Everything is gonna be alright, everything is gonna be alright, everything is gonna be alright, everything is gonna be alright..."
And it was. Bob Marley songs became a sign for me. I would often hear "Three Little Birds" on the bus I took to class at UCSD ("Three Little Birds" also reassures me that "every little thing...is gonna be alright"). Before boarding planes, I'd hear Bob Marley at Starbucks. Before my very first sonogram, I heard Marley in my car. On my very last exam in college, I wrote at the bottom, Thank You Bob!. I knew it wouldn't have an impact on my final grade, and I felt it necessary to write a thank you note somewhere appropriate, not only to Marley and his lyrics, but to the Divine force that put Marley in places I could hear him.
When I graduated from college, I noticed these lyrics in other songs. Old songs, new songs, the verses manifested like magic. While hubby and I were planning our wedding, broke but happy, we'd sing "Danny's Song" by Kenny Loggins, at times we were sure no one could hear us. Most people only sing the first two lines of the chorus in Danny's Somng, teetering off at "...I'm so in love with you, honey..." because it's very sentimental to sing Kenny Loggins songs unless you are Kenny Loggins. But if you keep singing or listening very carefully, he says "Everything is gonna be alright."
And it was. And it is.
Marley could keep me calm before an exam, and I believed Kenny Loggins when he said love can run on it's own evergy and not necessarily money in the bank. But parenthood, what a different story. Nothing I read - or wrote - in college preapred me for that. Even the strongest marriages get shaken up with the change that a child brings. With my first little vulnerable baby, I was scared all the time. I would stay up at night and just look at him sleeping, praying and promising that I would never let anything happen to my little guy. He was so fragile.
Like a little bird.
I had Marley in my CD changer, and I still played "Danny's Song", though I sung "House at Pooh Corner" to the baby. It's not a leap to say I was an anxious first-time mother and what I needed was a new sign to renew my faith in things.
"Lullaby" by Shawn Mullins was serendipity over the air waves. It found me - and put my baby to sleep - with the coveted lyrics..."Everything is gonna be alright," with a "rock-a-bye, rock-a-bye..." thrown in to make it sweeter like honey stirred into warm tea. And as you may know, I do not believe in coincidence.
It's no coincidence I have three little (ceramic) birds on my front porch, in addition to the other three little birds, Alex, Zoe and Melia who live in this musical nest with hubby and me. It's no coincidence that someone or something somehow hears what's inside my head and my heart and responds accordingly with melodic words, the easiest way to reach me. It's no coincidence that I have heard all of these songs in the last week, when I am stirring, stirring like usual, at one turning point or another.
What is called by some a coincidence, or serendipity, is really a sign, that everything is designed, everything is part of a plan, and even if it may seem scary at first, everything, every little thing, is gonna be alright.
I promise you a penny.
No, I am not talking about contraband. I mean Bob Marley and his band, The Wailers, and their prophet-like words (lyrics). They played to me at times when I really, really needed to hear them.
I'm a liberal arts girl, and although while in college I excelled in math, science classes reduced me to a stressed-out, blubbering mess, especially before exam time. I couldn't even re-sell my Human Anatomy textbook because I threw it against the wall so many times during the semester of hell in which I tried to read it.
But the day before my myology exam - the exam which scared me the most - I found and picked up a penny (heads, not tails, up) right outside of the classroom. More importantly, that morning, at work, I had heard a song I'd listened to hundreds of times, but the words had never sunk in.
I was standing in the employee lounge where I worked, getting coffee, and the speakers were tuned in to a local station, 91X, that played "No Woman, No Cry."
Bob Marley sung, over and over, "Everything is gonna be alright, everything is gonna be alright, everything is gonna be alright, everything is gonna be alright..."
And it was. Bob Marley songs became a sign for me. I would often hear "Three Little Birds" on the bus I took to class at UCSD ("Three Little Birds" also reassures me that "every little thing...is gonna be alright"). Before boarding planes, I'd hear Bob Marley at Starbucks. Before my very first sonogram, I heard Marley in my car. On my very last exam in college, I wrote at the bottom, Thank You Bob!. I knew it wouldn't have an impact on my final grade, and I felt it necessary to write a thank you note somewhere appropriate, not only to Marley and his lyrics, but to the Divine force that put Marley in places I could hear him.
When I graduated from college, I noticed these lyrics in other songs. Old songs, new songs, the verses manifested like magic. While hubby and I were planning our wedding, broke but happy, we'd sing "Danny's Song" by Kenny Loggins, at times we were sure no one could hear us. Most people only sing the first two lines of the chorus in Danny's Somng, teetering off at "...I'm so in love with you, honey..." because it's very sentimental to sing Kenny Loggins songs unless you are Kenny Loggins. But if you keep singing or listening very carefully, he says "Everything is gonna be alright."
And it was. And it is.
Marley could keep me calm before an exam, and I believed Kenny Loggins when he said love can run on it's own evergy and not necessarily money in the bank. But parenthood, what a different story. Nothing I read - or wrote - in college preapred me for that. Even the strongest marriages get shaken up with the change that a child brings. With my first little vulnerable baby, I was scared all the time. I would stay up at night and just look at him sleeping, praying and promising that I would never let anything happen to my little guy. He was so fragile.
Like a little bird.
I had Marley in my CD changer, and I still played "Danny's Song", though I sung "House at Pooh Corner" to the baby. It's not a leap to say I was an anxious first-time mother and what I needed was a new sign to renew my faith in things.
"Lullaby" by Shawn Mullins was serendipity over the air waves. It found me - and put my baby to sleep - with the coveted lyrics..."Everything is gonna be alright," with a "rock-a-bye, rock-a-bye..." thrown in to make it sweeter like honey stirred into warm tea. And as you may know, I do not believe in coincidence.
It's no coincidence I have three little (ceramic) birds on my front porch, in addition to the other three little birds, Alex, Zoe and Melia who live in this musical nest with hubby and me. It's no coincidence that someone or something somehow hears what's inside my head and my heart and responds accordingly with melodic words, the easiest way to reach me. It's no coincidence that I have heard all of these songs in the last week, when I am stirring, stirring like usual, at one turning point or another.
What is called by some a coincidence, or serendipity, is really a sign, that everything is designed, everything is part of a plan, and even if it may seem scary at first, everything, every little thing, is gonna be alright.
I promise you a penny.
