How To Fly With Angels
How To Fly With Angels
Yes, that will be the name of Volume 2... but wait... it's not what you think! First of all: it's not a "how to" instruction manual type of thing. Second, it isn't actually angels. Well, at least not the ones we typically think of when we hear that word. You know, the beautiful ladies with wings, harps, white robes, etc. It is, however, a reference to the beautiful little ladies who call me daddy. Okay, here's the back story:
"How to fly with angels" is a line from the final song of Volume 2. It is a song that I wrote most specifically for our youngest daughter, Aspen. The name of the song is "Walking With An Angel", because Aspen loves to take walks with her daddy. And these walks are absolutely magical. Literally magical... and if you don't believe in magic, I would suggest making an investment in humility and taking lessons from a child. That is essentially what the song is about: all of the magic and wonder that Aspen teaches me when we go on walks. She is teaching me "how to fly with angels": how to observe and appreciate the magic, mystery, wonder, and beauty of all that is around us in this gift of life we get to live.
Not only is that the overall theme of this particular Volume; it is also right at the heart of the overall body of work that will be called "Washed In Wonder". In fact, the abstract ideas of being "washed in wonder" and learning "how to fly with angels" are very much the same. Most simply put: they are expressions of learning to appreciate and embrace the beauty, magic, mystery, and wonder that we experience in this gift of life. The biggest difference in my own mind and heart is that one is the humility of learning from a child, while the other is the need we develop as we mature in this humility to continually return to the experience and be "washed" (renewed, revived, healed, etc.) by the experience.
An interesting and important side note is that though this is a beautiful lullaby type of song written for our youngest daughter, it also contains the darkest and most difficult images of any song I have written for our children up to this point. This is because I decided to deal honestly with all of the experiences that Aspen and I encounter on our walks. Most of the experiences we have are encounters with the sky, flowers, animals, trees, and other various forms of natural beauty. However, we also experience poverty, despair, mental illness, and other various forms of darkness and broken humanity. Yet, Aspen responds to each experience with the innocence of a... well... child. She doesn't respond with the typical judgements, assessments, or critique that most adults would. That type of response typically only perpetuates brokenness. Aspen responds with hope and love. She responds with hope and love because in her innocence, she is washed in wonder. And she is teaching me how to fly with angles.