Out Beyond the Valley of Trees

“The mist of May is in the gloamin', and all the clouds are holdin' still. So take my hand and let's go roamin', through the heather on the hill...”

~ Lerner & Loewe, Brigadoon, 1947

I went for a stroll around my neighborhood and my mind this past weekend. The actual walk took me around Loch Lomond, the neighborhood lake that usually reminds me of one of my favorite Hollywood[Broadway] musicals, “Brigadoon”; the story of a modern man jaded with life who discovers love in an idyllic yet impossible place. This weekend's early spring air was crisp, the sky clear and blue, the birds singing like they were putting on their own musical.

Amidst such natural beauty and seasonal promise, my other 'walk' took me “out beyond the valley of trees”; a place of peril for a lonely, aging romantic approaching his own gloaming. For, like spring itself, I find myself in a season of change; alone for the first time in my life, losing yet another 'dream car' I could never really afford, living through a noisy and disruptive home renovation that continually reminds me of another Hollywood film, “The Money Pit”.

Merriam-Webster defines “Romanticism” as:

:a literary, artistic, and philosophical movement originating in the 18th century, characterized chiefly by a reaction against neoclassicism and an emphasis on the imagination and emotions, and marked especially in English literature by sensibility and the use of autobiographical material, an exaltation of the primitive and the common man, an appreciation of external nature, an interest in the remote, a predilection for melancholy, and the use in poetry of older verse forms.

“A predilection for melancholy”. Raised on 1970s (and earlier) television shows and movies that almost always featured a romantic plot element – thank you Bobby Brady and Lerner & Loewe – I learned early on that romance was something to value, to strive for, even long for above all else. Merriam-Webster further reminds us that Western European culture has exalted romanticism, an ideal characterized by melancholy – an emotion associated with sadness, depression, even suicide – for centuries¹

As a WW (formerly Weight Watchers) member and part-time Wellness Coach, I know that it's healthy to question habits and ideas that don't serve us. Learned, sometimes habitual responses to life's challenges, are often founded on ideals – like romanticism – based in emotions, not rational thought. As someone also challenged by depression and related ails, I know that – just as Juliet's knife was deathly sharp – emotional responses to challenges can lead to unhealthy consequences.

The list of woes from this weekend's walk, for example; were they true? Yes; but were they the entire truth? While I do now live alone, I also interact with more people at work and in various after-hours pursuits than ever before; the current home improvement project, while disruptive, is transforming my house into a more beautiful place; and, though I'm still struggling with the impending loss of my latest 'Rocinante'² (truly “An Impossible Dream” from the very beginning, I know), I've already found another 'horse' to ride.

Which leads me to a final Brigadoon-inspired thought, well captured by Mr. Lundie, the musical's 'spiritual compass':

“Oh, there must be an awful lot of folk out there searchin' for a Brigadoon.”

True indeed. But, if we're totally honest with ourselves, is that a good thing?

1 “Pyramus and Thisbe”, the story of two tragic lovers in Roman poet, Ovid's, Metamorphosis, was written in 8AD.

2 Don Quixote's horse in Miguel Cervantes' 17^th century romantic novel, Don Quixote de la Mancha, the literary basis for the musical “The Man of La Mancha”.