Inspiration

So I'm driving home after a long day at work. I've had two strong disappointments in the last twenty-four hours. I'm tired. I've had a headache since two pm. My headset doesn't usually hurt my head, but it was bothering me today. It didn't seem to matter how I adjusted the radio, it was either too loud and gave me a headache from the noise, or too quiet and gave me a headache from straining to hear. This isn't whining, I promise. This is context.

I'm driving home, and I'm thinking about my career, wondering if I have, in Peter Principle fashion, reached the pinacle of my career. I'm considering concentrating all my energies at excelling at my current job, instead of beating my head against the next level. They are tired, headachey end-of-the-day thoughts, because deep down I know I'm good at what I do. And then a song comes on the radio.

It's a country song, one so generic that I can't even Google it, because all the lyrics are cliches. Like many country songs, the verses are a series of vignettes, in this case about various people who had every reason to give up, but didn't: the couple who had been told by the nth doctor that they couldn't conceive, the lonely single mom waitress who can't make ends meet, you get the idea. And in each case the verse ends with the revelation that the couple is already pregnant, or the regular customer she's so fond of has already bought an engagement ring in order to make his proposal. They "just don't know it yet." The song urges the listener not to give up on hopeless causes, nor to underestimate the power of the heart. Standard country fare. But the coincidence of timing gets me, and it chokes me up.

I wouldn't blog about my fatigue-induced hallucinations that a song on the radio was speaking to me, except that when the song ended, the DJ announced, "This song brought to you by Badger Airlines." Really. Except he used their real name.

Update: one of my readers found the song online. It's by Canadian artist J.R. Vautour.