Fully, Mementos, and the mix for 4-23-21

Hello again you fabulous avatars, bots, pixels, and abstractions! Yes, it’s been a few weeks where Friday posts haven’t been tenable. Such are the vagaries of free content.

The good: I’ve had my second vaccine dose and am two weeks out so I’m Fully Vaccinated. I’m extremely happy to say many in my life are also coming up on their fully vaxxed status too.

It’s odd processing how time works at the tail end of the pandemic. While it is ending for the US, it isn’t over and I’m not sure what measure to use as to when one can say it is over. The current situation is a different type of limbo. Can tell you that I’m sick of being in the house, am sick of the small routines that are now a year old, and yet am still uncomfortable being around others in public.

The bad: Last weekend I was helping clear out my Aunt Elaine’s place in Iowa. She passed a few months ago and this was the last big push to have the house ready to be sold. It was complicated and exhausting on all levels. There is something terrible about having to do physical heavy lifting when each item also carries the emotional weight of grief as well.

Not sure that I have fully developed thoughts about the mementos one collects from the effects of those who have passed, but many small, quirky things can become talismans that conjure that person to mind and I’m not sure sure one has much control over what those touchstones are. I certainly don’t. There are probably specific items, let’s say souvenirs from trips you took together, that are obvious candidates, but those aren’t the ones that catch me. When I think about the items I have squirreled away from other times I’ve gone through this process the artifacts are usually quotidian. It’s a little “Our Town” that way I guess. Or items that show an aspect of the person that maybe wasn’t often on display when you knew them. It’s jarring to me how often that I learn a lot about someone after they have died. The stories, remembrances usually mundane but that add depth and shadow, come out when people are gathered and trying to parse long forgotten papers or figure out who exactly is in a picture.

What is sticking with me, like the shard of a dream you both can’t quire recall and can’t shake, is how much louder I can hear the clock ticking now. I think you never really end grieving. You get used to the noise of it, which does fade, but its part of your permanent soundtrack. I don’t know.

Since this space is usually about music, I wanted to highlight something of Elaine’s that came home with me.

Listen to and/or download this podcast! The Funkomaticjamatron Presents 4-23-21

NOTE: New “The Funkomaticjamatron Presents…” podcasts are generally posted on Fridays. The show archives are around ten shows deep. Beyond that, if the link isn’t active, the mix has been deleted to make way for new material.

Song – Artist - Album
Burning Bridges - Pink Floyd - Obscured By Clouds.
Letting You Go - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Hard Promises.
I've Been Working - Van Morrison - His Band And The Street Choir.
The Tracks Of My Tears - Smokey Robinson & The Miracles - The Big Chill (Soundtrack).
Never Going Back Again - Fleetwood Mac – Rumours.
Here Comes The Rain Again – Eurythmics - Greatest Hits.
Demolition Man - Grace Jones - Private Life.
Nothing - Depeche Mode - Music For The Masses.
Let Me In - Laura Branigan - Laura Branigan.
Pink Cashmere – Prince - The Hits/The B-Sides [Disc 1].