Chelsea Morning

When I was in high school in the mid-eighties I had a fabulously diverse group of friends who, to this day, remain as enchanted almost magical characters in the story of my life. When I get lost or deeply blue or begin feeling that I have somehow missed the point those people – my people – come back to me and remind me that I too was a magical faerie princess once who lived in an enchanted kingdom and was charming and intelligent and artistic and made people happy.

About a year ago I came home from a Saturday wandering with a record player. One of those quaint reproductions in a wooden housing with vintage-look knobs and switches and speakers. Since then I stop at garage sales and antique malls and thrift stores snatching up all of the records from my youth that I sold at my own garage sale years and years ago. While I haven't found Prince's Purple Rain or Madonna's Borderline yet I have found lots of older records.

Herb Albert and the Tijuana Brass (which I LOVE)
Harry Belafonte
Dan Fogelberg
Simon and Garfunkel
Helen Reddy
The Music Man
My Fair Lady
Grease
Annie
ABBA

And yesterday I found Neil Diamond's Love at the Greek and Stones both of which are albums played in my childhood home nearly every weekend.

Lucas, one of those magical friends from high school fell in love with another of our group (a phenomenon which happened with startling frequency. We were quite in-bred our group). That year, and for many years after, Secily became known as Chelsea. As in ~

"I woke up it was a Chelsea morning
And the first thing that I knew
There was milk and toast and honey
And a bowl of oranges too
And the light poured in like butterscotch
And stuck to all my senses"

I know it isn't cool to like Neil Diamond these days, and definitely not at my age – my parents maybe, but a forty year old should not be a Neil Diamond fan. But what fantastic poets that generation created.

"Won't you stay
We'll put on the day
And wear it 'til the night comes"

And how wonderful that an ultra-cool surfer dude in 1985 was inspired by and sang a Neil Diamond song to the girl who made him feel like a morning with "milk and toast and honey and a bowl of oranges, too…"

Isn't it amazing how a song can bring back and entire period in your life including scents and tastes and emotions?

Comments

[Merrilyn]

Great post.