emotions

 


(Astoria Figs)

JOE: Good morning Calliope.
CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. Welcome back from your travels.
JOE: Thanks. We rode a whirlwind through Manchester, Connecticut to New York where we settled for a few days.
CALLIOPE: Tell me the highlights.
JOE: As for simple pleasures, eating fresh figs from Mike and Joe's patio fig tree.
CALLIOPE: Anything more complex.
JOE: We saw Next to Normal, a musical about the effect of mental illness on the family.
CALLIOPE: Sounds strange.
JOE: It sounded that way to me too. But then music, better than writing, portrays emotions and relationships which can sometimes elude words.
CALLIOPE: Tell me more.
JOE: The show showed musically the struggle of a woman with her emotions and the effect of her illness on her daughter and son in very immediate and graphic, or should I say musical, terms.
CALLIOPE: Words sometimes struggle to show raw emotion.
JOE: I agree. Music seems to do a better job.
CALLIOPE: Something to consider for your writing.
JOE: I will remember that. I'm not quite sure of the implicati0ns though. Talk with you tomorrow.

(Troubled Times)

JOE: Good morning Calliope.
CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. Are you feeling better than you did yesterday and did you resolve your musical dilemma?
JOE: Yes on both accounts. Resolving my dilemma improved my mood.
CALLIOPE: Tell me about it.
JOE: I told you I woke up yesterday with my reaction to Michael McDonald still on my mind.
CALLIOPE: You did.
JOE: I started to consider my emotions. I realized I felt sad, on the verge of tears, angry and resentful.
CALLIOPE: Do you hold Michael responsible for all that?
JOE: Of course not. I remained puzzled until on the way to the gym I recalled something I told Carol the night of the concert.
CALLIOPE: Which was?
JOE: That his type of music constantly grated on my nerves at a practice where I worked in the early 1990's. I found the type of music annoying then but did not associate Michael McDonald with it.
CALLIOPE: Just annoying?
JOE: No. The owner of the practice insisted on playing music which I considered bland and insipid at best. When one of us worker bees changed the station to jazz or classical music, he would change it back which I saw as a symbol of his control.
CALLIOPE: And that's the connection?
JOE: Not entirely. That was a very difficult time for me professionally, financially and in my marriage of the time. Altogether bad memories. That's the connection. I'm glad I discovered it and now will work to put it to rest. Talk with you on Monday.