Maybe it’s the summer air. The openness of window and spirit. Each breeze seems to capture a soundtrack. I’ve heard it said that you remember the songs the most, the ones that were playing when you were in a state of becoming. That’s probably why I heard it yesterday. Why I felt the need to put on my pearls with my denim shirt. It was my mother who taught me this — as we both became ourselves — how to be a gentle warrior. Armed, but not hardened. And it wasn’t lost on us that just as we needed it, our theme song, (as we heard it), Leather and Lace, played daily on the radio. 

With just enough money to buy blank cassettes, and way more money than time, I set our one and only boombox to the station that played it most, my fingers ready to push both play and record to capture the recording. With only a second missed at the start, we had it. And we played that song over and over. Picking out the lines we heard the loudest, “You’re sayin’ I’m fragile….but I’m stronger than you know.” And weren’t we, getting stronger with each replay?! Each rewind. Each pencil stuck in the cassette to gather in a weary tape, and played again. 

I heard it so clearly yesterday. On summer’s breeze, or heaven’s… me armed with my pearls and denim, ready to face whatever the day would bring. Maybe we hear what we want to hear, what we need to hear. And the voices change, but the message never does. That’s what we can give to each other. Daily. So I say to you, sing to you, whoever needs to hear it, you are stronger than you know. Now clutch your pearls, imaginary or real, get out there, and become!