I had to euthanize my cat, Murdoch, on January 9th. There's really only one other person (my wife) who gets how amazing he was. But trying to explain it would be frustrating to me (because I would fail) and oppressive to others (because it would be the equivalent of subjecting them to a slideshow of a vacation with the added bonus of feeling compelled to listen because it's about a dead cat). So, imma write about it here and then if you want to read it ... well ... that's on you. I won't know either way. Context first. I moved to NY in 2021 to help my sister open a vet clinic. I cashed out my entire life in NC and came up alone, the first time I'd been truly alone in probably three decades. My sister lived down the road, but ... still. It's hard to convey exactly how much of an uprooting it was for me at almost 50 years old. We opened the clinic in early 2022. Up until this point, while I'd always liked cats, I defi...
About 14 years ago, my dad asked me for help with a Christmas Cantata. It was called "I'll Be Home for Christmas" and was based around that song. As you might expect for a religious musical based around a secular song, the writing was ... well ... bad. Bad and meaningless. And trite. It was feel-good with absolutely no substance whatsoever. So, I decided to give it a whirl. I imagine that no one will be interested in this, but I had been thinking about it and discovered a bunch of old files that had this in it. Many of the songs won't be recognizable by title and I'm only posting the title of the song and the narration that went with it. I'll put any thoughts about what I was writing in parentheses. Also, you'll note that I began each section with a portion of the first chapter of the Gospel According to St. John. First song: "I'll Be Home for Christmas" In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and ...