The Circle Game
May 13, 2008 by kristamonet
As most trips to the Emergency Room go, ours too was unexpected. It started with an eye infection and morphed into blood. A call back to the walk-in clinic that we had just left an hour before confirmed that we were to head off to the ER - and we were unsure what to make of it all.
Yes, this was our Mother’s Day. Far from our original plan but somehow it worked.
We spent the first 2 hours of the day waiting to be taken in. During this time we sipped on some tea, talked about babies and all that one experiences as they learn to become a mom. We talked about growing old and were amazed at the extensive list of retirement homes featured in a publication they had in the waiting room! Once we were in an examining room (where we waited for another 2 hours) we talked about cultural norms, health and education and we laughed at the antics of some of the characters we came across.
Although certainly not expected in this way - we did get to spend Mother’s Day together. And we made the best of it. Thankfully everything worked out just fine.
As I drifted off to sleep that night, I couldn’t help but hum the tune to an old Joni Mitchell song that I used to sing at camp as a kid. At the time I had no idea what the lyrics really meant. Now, they couldn’t be more true. It reminded me that while I’m still far from the “sandwich generation” stage, and I’ve got lots of years left to enjoy my family, I am starting to become conscious of my own age, and that of my parents’.
On that Mother’s Day, I couldn’t have been more thankful that I’ve still got them to celebrate.
The Circle Game - Lyrics By Joni Mitchell
Yesterday a child came out to wonder
Caught a dragonfly inside a jar
Fearful when the sky was full of thunder
And tearful at the falling of a star
And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We’re captive on a carousel of time
We can’t return we can only look behind
From where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game
Then the child moved ten times round the seasons
Skated over ten clear frozen streams
Words like, when you’re older, must appease him
And promises of someday make his dreams
And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We’re captive on the carousel of time
We can’t return we can only look behind
From where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game
Sixteen springs and sixteen summers gone now
Cartwheels turn to car wheels through the town
And they tell him take your time, it won’t be long now
Till’ you drag your feet to slow the circles down
And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We’re captive on the carousel of time
We can’t return we can only look behind
From where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game
So the years spin by and now the boy is twenty
Though his dreams have lost some grandeur coming true
There’ll be new dreams, maybe better dreams and plenty
Before the last revolving year is through
And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We’re captive on the carousel of time
We can’t return, we can only look behind
From where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game
