Linda Ronstadt Archives - The Year(s) of Living Non-Judgmentally

It’s so easy for me to take photos on my drive into work because it’s so easy to be stuck in traffic around Boston.

It’s so easy for me to free associate about the phrase “so easy” …

When I tell people that my Coping and Healing groups focus on doing more of what helps and less what doesn’t help, we agree that sounds so easy but is actually so difficult to do.
As was pointed out by Ukrainian-American comedian, actor, and writer Yakov Smirnoff somewhere (it’s not so easy for me to remember where and when), English has confusing idioms about pie and cake to describe something that is so easy (“easy as pie” and “piece of cake”),
It’s so easy to fall down and not so easy to get up again.
It’s so easy for me to fear the winter and not so easy for me to embrace it.
It’s so easy to focus on the negative but not so easy to focus on the positive.
It’s so easy to write the words “hope” and “love” but not so easy to hold on to them.
It’s so easy for me to share my words and photos with you.

What I really really want is to share two version of “It’s So Easy” (so easy to find here and here on YouTube):

It’s so easy to be grateful to Buddy Holly, Linda Ronstadt, Yakov Smirnoff, people who learn and grow in groups, Boston, and YOU!

Am I blue?

I have some reasons to be blue, this morning:

More white-and-sometimes-blue snow is piling up around here, in Boston USA.
Mary — whom I was looking forward to seeing, after her return from a two-week vacation — won’t be coming in today to the hospital where we work together.
I’m going to be the only Social Worker On Call, all day, for the very large primary care practice where I do individual and group therapy.
I’m waiting on some possibly blue-making news from cardiologists of many colors, regarding future surgery on my red-and-blue heart.

I have reasons to be blue, but am I blue?

Am I blue, from the cold?

No, I’m not. I might be blue from cold, by the time I get to work this morning, but I’m not blue yet.

Am I blue, because I have a very unusual heart that pumps blood in unexpected ways?

No, I’m not. Medical people, when they’ve seen pictures of my heart, have looked at my fingers and toes expecting them to be blue (because of the strange route my blood takes), but I’m always pink (unless I’m outside too long in the !!&#@!!#@!! New England cold).

Am I blue, in any way, this morning?

I shall check in with myself — internally and externally — in this moment.

I have discovered two ways in which I am blue, right now.

Before I reveal those, will it make you blue if my thoughts turn to blues in the recent past?

I saw these blues last night, while Grammys for blues, rock, R & B, and other kinds of music were being awarded in Los Angeles, California.*

Here’s a link to the complete list of all the (probably-not-blue) winners of Grammy awards this year. It always makes me a little blue that more musical genres — like bluegrass — aren’t included in the Grammy awards TV show. However, it makes me the opposite of blue (whatever color that would be) to see, this morning, that some of my favorite entertainers won Grammys this year, including:

Chick Corea (appearing in blog posts here and here),
Weird Al Yankovic (appearing in the comment section of this here blog post),
Pharrell Williams (appearing in this blue-and-non-blue blog post AND consistently making me the opposite of blue with his song “Happy”) (including right now, as I’m composing this “Am I Blue?” post),
Joan Rivers (appearing in this here blog post), and
John Williams (whose music appears in this blog post).

As I’m looking at that list of winners of 2015 Grammy Awards, I’m noticing that a Black Jack AND a White Jack might both reply “NO!” to “Am I Blue?” this morning.

Is anybody out there saying, “YES!” to the question “Am I Blue?” … for any reason?

And, am I blue that I’ve gone such a long, slow distance away from those two ways I am blue, this morning?

NO! Here are the two ways that I’m blue, here and now: