All My Life's a Circle

Alanis Morissette was a favorite of mine and my girlfriends growing up. When we were old enough we went to one of her concerts, with a chaperone of course. We geeked out from our floor seats, sang along to Ironic and then cherished the memory forevermore.

When a fellow parent in my #wfhparents Slack channel at work posted this link recently, I got goosebumps and teary-eyed. Alanis is a mom now (I'm a mom now!), and she is working from home like the rest of us. She has written a song that captures so beautifully what it's like to raise babies.

To my boy. My mission is to keep the light in your eyes ablaze.
To my girl. All your innocence and fire. When you reach out I am here hell or high water.
The nest is never going away.
This cord is unbreakable
First thing you might notice is that everything is temporary...

Keeping the light ablaze. I often think to myself, after I lose my temper with my girls, am I going to ruin that spark? And then, will the world darken that light? The thought is too much to bear. There is a dark underbelly beneath the beauty of raising a child, a realization that we can't protect our kids from a world that can be so cruel, but of course is also full of so much wonder and good. Especially now, we need to remember and even meditate on the good.

Alanis wrote the anthems of our teen years and now an anthem of motherhood. Her poise, holding her chattering daughter, during a live online performance for TV is everything. It's so 2020, and it's so good.

Listening to Alanis's new song Ablaze makes me think of another song, a camp song I've been singing to my girls at bedtime lately: All My Life's a Circle.

Now, somehow, I am the chaperone. Full circle. Isn’t it ironic?

AES