status update
Yesterday I underwent surgery for a herniated disc which happened on last memorial day weekend. I spent the last 4 months in terrible pain. I could barely walk with crutches or sit for more than 5 minutes. I underwent therapy which helped but I was never going to be free of the pain or be able to resume the life I wanted to live without the surgery.
I basically spent the last 4 months looking at my ceiling, and this happened 2 days before the forced quarantine was to end and ease restrictions in my state.
I woke from surgery and the pain was gone. I stood upright and walked. I was able to look my wife in the eyes as I stood there for the first time in months. I was able to look at her without worrying about finding something to grab onto as I walked all hunched and crooked. The moans I made with every step I took were gone.
Later when I got home I was able to hug my daughter. She ran off trying to hide her tears but I knew they were there by the look on my wife's face.
Pain is probably one of, if not the biggest motivators in life that I can think of. We spend so much of our lives trying to avoid it. The other big motivator is pleasure. We spend the rest of our time trying to find and embrace it. I had a lot of time to think about it. Are we really that transparent, that black and white in our struggle through life? Maybe we are, or maybe there's more. I do know that the pain we suffer in life adds to our perspective and that freedom from the pain and struggles in our life opens our ability to create. Creation of art in itself can be a release from those pains as we gain insight into our souls and lives.
I am so excited to be able to sit at a table while eating. To be able to play my guitar while sitting versus while laying on my back. To be able to walk my dog.
To be able to walk hand in hand with my wife. in short to be able to resume the life I've come to love.
And I must admit that a big part of that life is writing music. I am so excited about what is to come.
I am about two weeks away from returning to the studio to finish the project I was working on before my injurry.
While I had all that time to think I wrote some new songs which I think will become a concept album.
I am so excited to get them recorded and hear what a full band will add to my lone guitar and voice that the suspense is killing me. I am so tempted to post a song or two from the batch I finished, but they are still in the rough mix stage. Ok truth is I'm feeling so good I will let you hear the new recording of Devil's Jamboree. It still needs to be mastered before I put it up for sale, but I think you will enjoy this version. It's a fun song to listen to.
As alway Believe in love, if you follow the path of love you will find the road to happiness. beware the path of hate for you will find you dwell in the house of misery.
Rusty Clay
