It's All About Them Words

Some people say that I have a way with words. And while I take this compliment and tuck it in my pocket, I do not always agree. But what I can say is that I love words. I love to rhyme them and sing them and write them and speak them to anyone who will listen. I think there is a power in words that can transform you, disarm you or destroy you.

Some words are full of a hope that can't be contained:
" When peace like a river, ascendeth my way. When sorrow like sea billows roll. Whatever my lot, Tho has taught me to say: It is well, It is well with my soul".

Some words are full of a pain so real that you can almost taste it:
" I remember whispering to you in the moments right before your final "ohhh" sound - I will hold to those promises for the rest of my life. "

Some words are said without thought, but you remember forever:
" You have the biggest arms on a girl that I have ever seen".

Some words bring you back to a moment in time:
" With this ring, I, thee, wed. "

Some words make you laugh until you can't see straight:
" We're the 3 best friends that anyone can have. Oh we're the 3 best friends that anyone can have..."

Some words are shared in a special moment and become a secret language:
"Cool as in neat, or cool as in greasy?", " You never do that.", " We braid hair."

There are times when I have heard the words:
" I just don't like you" or "Not everything is about you" and I literally felt wounded.

And then there are times when someone has said:
"You're a favorite", " I appreciate you" or "I love you" and everything makes sense again.

There was a time when what I wanted to hear was "it's going to be ok" and "we support you". But my true friends told me what I needed to hear instead, which was " I love you, but you're wrong". And this changed the path I walked and led me here.

I have loved reading the words my friends have written on their blogs and thoroughly enjoyed hearing their voice in the words they have chosen. I could tell you in a second which blog was Sara's or Beth's just by listening to the cadence of their words and they beauty and humor they infuse in them.

I can easily break into tears watching TV because of the words that are shared between two people in an emotionally charged moment. I feel it, because I can tell that they mean it. And maybe, just maybe, I have heard or meant those words before myself.


In my car, I can be transformed from a bad mood to a good mood based on what song is on the radio. I can become less distracted, more present or highly energized by the way a song mixes words with rythym.


My son is learning words and is attempting to make his own sense of them. Sometimes this translates into words like "stirp" for "stir" or "yarn" for "yawn". But it also comes out in the sweetest ways when he says: "It's a nice day" or "you look pretty".


There is so much that we say with words and so much that we hear in the words being said to us. I can spend hours practicing the words I want to use for an important conversation. I plan it out and edit the dialogue until I know it is flawless. But I tend to speak before I think when it matters most. And this is a bad, bad habit. Because clearly, this post is about the magnificence of words and the effect that they can have. Obviously words can and do break a few "bones" every now and then. But a perfectly timed word, said in the most sincere of ways can also make a day, a week or a moment.


p.s. if I used your words in this blog - and you know who you are - thanks for the inspiration and I hope you don't mind my plagarism.