Sitting curled up in a damp university room watching Adele’s set at Glastonbury sometimes really is the only remedy to a slow week. Someone Like You – a song little me would be proud that my present-self can now listen to. See, in this quiet moment I can say, I am brave.
Love first found me in the school corridors. The days of the summer dresses, which unravelled before the day ended – white frilly socks curled over, and polished shoes laid out next to Dad’s on a Sunday evening. The good old days weren’t they Dad? Now I understand why the first word I stuttered was ‘shoe’. In these early years of biscuits at break time and lunch breaks spent collecting conquers, I found my first very best friend. Inseparable, we naturally were put in different classes – all that did not matter to us, now a team. A warm British summertime Tuesday rolled around, cruising in the back seat of mum’s old car – we paused at the traffic lights, Someone Like You filling the air. I remember because we used to sing along to the CD, track number eleven. It was on this slow summer morning that my childhood best friend announced that she was leaving.
Picked up from the school playground, I climbed into the car – one box of raisins and a teenage sister taking the front seat, and I cried. I sat, glancing at my mum in the front mirror asking if I had been told yet. See it was on this slow summer school day I met loss. And it was the first day a song held meaning – Someone Like You now a re-run of each memory, a slow and disorientating memento to friendship. In these lyrics, I can stir up what my first friend taught me. See, she taught me that sometimes the most precious, vital part of life is looking forward to saying hello to someone each morning. It is pacing into the room just a little faster to see their eyes light up as you walk towards them. In our case, it is knowing their school timetable to know when you could sneak some more laughter into your day and sharing the comfort that after all these years, I carry the knowledge of what it means to be a good friend with me into all the new relationships this life offers me.
My first childhood best friend. She came into my life, taught me love and taught me loss.
To understand that love (whether that be for a cause, a person, a passion) will find you, when your adrenaline rises and breath shakes. And for the life of us all, we do not have explanation, no words - just a knowing. This is when you have met love; it is a feeling not meant to be understood, but a force which calls out to be embodied, felt and engaged with. I encourage you to step into brave love, a love that stands proud, to show up for what you stand for type – of – love. Embody all that makes you different, all that stirs you. Because time waits upon no one, and without love what is there but no connection. I remind myself here that my words and actions are the only vehicles which can transport my emotional landscape into the awareness and hearts of my loved ones. In this regard, if you love someone, show them. If you love something, share it. And if you find love for a lifetime, show up.
Without love, charity would cease to exist, and poets would be uninspired. Crammed London bars would be lucky no more and nervous encounters with a crush would be but a mere confident hello. Weddings, birthday parties, funeral halls all would be empty, and fields in Glastonbury would be silent.
See to love is to extend yourself. In a ‘Love Actually’ inspired way, if you look for it love really does fuel each meaningful yet ordinary endeavour in this life. Whether that be waking yourself up in the morning and greeting the new day with grace or sitting listening to a best friend on a night they need you most. It is found in every song, and every ‘goodbye’ as you turn your head just to check they are safe and are on their way all okay. To love, is to look into a crowd and know some are singing for their childhood, some are singing for their friendships, some are singing for their lost loves and some are singing for new beginnings. We are all lost in love, in search for a lifetime.
So, the next chapter that calls you, heart racing and thoughts stirring, run to it. For you can lean into it in the knowledge that whether it lasts for a season or a lifetime, love makes a mark – and Adele has a song to hold you.
In all our British stand-off glory, the fields of Glastonbury are filled with a collective all singing for something higher. And on that note, to listen to Someone Like You is to lean into love.
14th February, a day to celebrate our collective belief in something higher.
My most favourite day.
Happy Valentine’s Day. And come on now, if in doubt, whack some Coldplay on.
Sarah Dooley
Comments