I was reminded yesterday of a song by the late Harry Chapin. It came out in 1979 and it’s called “Circle.”
In the song, Harry sings:
“All my life’s a circle;
Sunrise and sundown;
Moon rolls thru the nighttime;
Till the daybreak comes around.
All my life’s a circle;
And I can’t tell you why;
Season’s spinning round again;
The years keep rolling by.”
This came to me at a bagel shop.
For those that don’t know, I’m back on the radio a few mornings a week with my good friend Scott Reiniche. He now hosts the morning show at WSAR in Fall River.
When Scott went over there in November to do a couple of shows and see if it was a good fit for him and the station, he called me right after his first show and said, the moment he walked in the studio and the show started… he immediately had a flashback to the 90s and the show we used to do at WBSM. I was the host and Scott was my co-host and sports guy. He said this new show was almost EXACTLY like what we used to do, what, 30 years ago????
He told me I had to come over with him and join him on the show. When I expressed my concerns about doing a morning show again he said, “Whatever you can do, two days a week, three days a week, we’ll make it work. You can even work from home now if you need to because the technology has gotten that good.” So I do a couple of shows a week from 7 to 9 a.m.
I’ve written before about some of the after-effects of a stroke. My balance is not 100% and the biggest issue I have, now 8 years post-stroke, is the stroke fatigue. It’s not every day but it’s still there. Occasionally you just have a day where you’re in a fog for the whole day. Scott, and management, have been very understanding.
So what am I getting to? Where was I going with this?
Friday we did a live broadcast at New York Bagel on President Avenue in Fall River. (Yes, we were corrected by a former-teacher. It’s not “President’s” Ave it’s “President.” Now, is it “Tarkiln Hill Road” or “Tarklin?” I digress.)
During the morning, both Scott and I had people coming up to us that had listened on our previous stations and it was so good to reconnect. We even had Norm for Acushnet stop by.
“NORM!!!!”
(Anyone get the “Cheers” reference? Anyone? Hello?)
Norm had been a listener of mine when I was at WBSM and on top of that… he told Scott that he was the guy that poured the cement around Scott’s father’s pool at the house Scott grew up in! Small world! (I always disagreed with that term. It’s a HUGE world, we’re just a small part of it.)
Scott made a comment to me when we were enjoying our post-show bagel about how everything’s a circle. And then he said, “Stick with the good people and the circle won’t have any flat spots!” Interesting comment and pretty cool when you think about it.
I’m sure the fact that we still live and work in the community we grew up in has a lot to do with it. And the number of accumulated years has given us time to reconnect and revisit people but I think there’s a lot to that statement he made.
I’m sure the bad people reappear every now and then but, hopefully, we don’t give them enough of our attention because we’ve learned what’s important to us and what’s not.
I’ve always tried to observe a saying I heard a long time ago. I may not quote it exactly but it was something like: “Be kind to the people you meet on the way up because you’ll meet them again on the way down.” While I don’t feel like I’m on the way down just yet, this week I was reminded of how people come in and out of your life so being kind can make those moments when you’re reacquainted much more pleasant.
One more verse from Harry Chapin:
“No straight lines make up my life;
And all my roads have bends;
There’s no clear-cut beginnings;
And so far, no dead-ends.”
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