The Song On The Playlist

Before my daughter’s baby shower five months ago, I made a playlist of songs.
I appropriately called it the Baby Playlist.
The title was not very original.
However, the name makes the playlist easy to find.

The playlist consisted of all genres of songs.
The playlist was quiet and peaceful as it played in the background.
Everyone seemed to enjoy it.
I have found myself listening to that playlist since my granddaughter was born.

I was cleaning up the kitchen after dinner.
The playlist was playing in the background.
All of a sudden I heard the song.
It is a song that I have known all my life; a song that has been recorded by different artists.

This version was sung by Carly Simon.
It made me pause.
It made my throat tighten.
It whisked me back to when I was a little girl.

I remember when we had a back and white television.
I remember having only three channels on our TV.
There was no way of recording a movie.
You waited until the movie was scheduled to be on and you planned to watch it.

I waited and waited until the Wizard of Oz was scheduled to be shown.
Often movies like that would be shown on a Sunday night.
Sunday night was family night; everyone stayed home.
I loved the story of Dorothy; I even liked being a bit afraid of the Wicked Witch of the West.

That movie was something I watched with my Pop-Pop.
We would sit together and watch the entire movie.
He enjoyed helping me with my writing and spelling.
We had a little deal: do a bit of work first and then watching the movie was the reward.

I remember when we got our first colored television set.
Today, technological innovations happen faster than we can keep up.
It is hard to imagine that there was a first time for everything.
I could not wait to actually see the YELLOW brick road.

I remember when Dorothy began her journey in her ruby RED slippers.
I remember her shoes shimmering on her feet.
I watched as she put her foot on the very small section of the yellow brick road.
I watched her step around and around the curve of the road as it widened.

I gasped at the beauty of the color.
The road was really yellow.
Her shoes were really red.
Her dress was really blue.

Before the color appeared in the movie, Dorothy’s house had to land in Oz.
The twister lifted her house and set it down on top of the wicked witch.
I remember the wind whipping as Auntie Em and Uncle Henry tried to get into the cellar.
Before any of that chaos, there was the song.

Somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high
There’s a land that I heard of
Once in a lullaby

Somewhere over the rainbow
Skies are blue
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true

Someday I’ll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far
Behind me
Where troubles melt like lemon drops
Away above the chimney tops
That’s where you’ll find me

Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly
Birds fly over the rainbow
Why then, oh why can’t I?

If happy little bluebirds fly
Beyond the rainbow.
Why, oh, why can’t I?

Even as a little girl the song stirred some sort of emotion in me.
I remember one single tear falling down my cheek as it was sung.
My grandfather wiped it away with his hand.
I never understood why the song touched something deep inside me.

There in my kitchen, all those years later, the song played.
The sneak attack happened.
The emotion, the throat tightening, the longing…for what I don’t know.
All these years later, the longing is still there.

If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world. (C.S. Lewis )

Songs do that to you.
Songs creep up on you.
Songs bring memories to the forefront, memories that linger quietly.
Songs are the bridge between the heart and the mind.

It was not my childhood for which I longed.
It was not my Pop-Pop.
It was something about a place where troubles melt like lemon drops.
It was something about being on the other side of the rainbow.

He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” (Revelation 21:4,5)

Looking back with mature eyes, I was longing for that for which I was created.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. (Ecclesiastes 3:11)

On the other side of the rainbow is Heaven.
The dark clouds will be behind us.
Troubles will melt like lemon drops and will be no more.
Bluebirds will fly and the lion will lie down with the lamb.

I still have a longing for the place for which we were created.
God will be there.
He will wipe away every tear from our eyes.
One day, over the rainbow, our faith will be sight.