It's the name of a song. A song of the 60s. But it could be any song. In fact, it is any song. Everyone has a song with more meanings than it's fair to expect from just a song. It's as if in a given a moment an exaggeration of feelings meets with a convenient vehicle of expression and from then on both things are impossible to dissociate in one's emotional memory. No matter. 'She would never say where she came from', it begins, 'yesterday don't matter 'cause it's gone.', which, in a way, is absolutely true. 'Whether the sun is bright, or in the darkest night, no one knows, she comes and goes. And then it goes to say: 'Good-bye Ruby Tuesday, who's gonna hang a name on you?' A song that begins with a farewell. It's curious to think of one's life as beginning with a good-bye. So lonely and so forlorn. Isn't this typical of immaturity? The question is: does it change fundamentally or do we just bury these feelings and conform to the ways of the world? Tough question this one. 'And when you change with every new day, still I'm gonna miss you'. That seems to be an answer. We do change and we do miss what we were, don't we? Or do we? I think so, but then again, we are all immature in some aspects. 'Don't ask why she needs to be so free, she's gonna tell you it's the only way to be. She just can't be changed to a life where nothing is gained, nothing is lost, at such a cost...' Isn't the feeling familiar? Isn't this intensity lacking when we mature? Don't we become emptier and more cynical when we become wiser? Isn't some of life's most beautiful gifts lost with the passing of time. The song ends up with these words: 'There's no time to lose, I heard her say, you've got to catch your dreams before they run away. Dying all the time, lose your dreams and you might lose your mind. Is life unkind?' A very good question. There is a prayer I've adopted that sounds curious. I've adopted it perhaps exactly because it sounds curious: 'God, thank you for everything just the way it is'. Or maybe it's just another way to say: 'Thy will be done'. Extreme humbleness. And extreme surrender. I thought this would be a proper way to end this year, this stretch of the road. Happy New Year.