Empty Bed, Full Heart- A Single Mother's Journey

My fiancé and I regularly get into arguments about Garth Brooks. The country singer with the bass twang was a staple of my childhood and I can’t think of a song he’s done that I didn’t absolutely love. Admittedly, most of my adoration now comes from the nostalgia factor; his music transports me back to wedding dances two-stepping with my uncles, road trips with my parents and older brother arguing about what the lyrics actually were (pre-Google life was like that), and romanticizing his adult wisdom about life and loss.  For Niles, who has no such fond illusions, he feels the quality of music is lacking (I don’t 100% disagree with that on an objective level). However, the real thing that turns his ambivalence into disgust is the song “Unanswered Prayers”. As an adult, I can appreciate that the story and lyrics are a little trite and simplistic. But the notion that God just lets our prayers sit unanswered because we don’t know enough to pray for the right things is the real matter o...

  “In silence, I find sobriety; In quiet, there is a clarity; In stillness, I find simplicity; It’s there I find your love, your hope, your peace.” One of my favorite meditative songs is “Sobriety”, a recording done by Brother Isaiah on the album “Shade 2”. Brother Isaiah belongs to the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, a monastic group in NYC that, among other things, records simple acoustic tracks for meditative prayer and adoration. (As an aside, all of the proceeds from their music fund the various service missions they run for the vulnerable populations in New York City. I’d definitely recommend checking out literally anything they do.)  Lately, my life has been a busy, chaotic mess, so I’ve been aching for the sobriety mentioned in this song. My desire for clarity, peace, and simplicity shouts out to me; I feel like my interior life is a cacophony of endless to-dos, constant interruption, and heaps of laundry and dishes, finished with a flourishing sforzando of guilt. I ...