Just Because (just because)

Just because I love this eccentric crazy-quilt-of-a-movie.  Early this morning, something prompted me to look through my things for the only Christmas card I ever received from R.  He sent it to me from California in 1987.  It has an embossed scallop shell on the front of the card and:

"Softly...gently...joyfully...Christmas arrives in the heart."

On the same shelf, deep in my hall closet, was the DVD of "My Own Love Song." I just finished watching it again.  It speaks to me in a healing way as the first evening of Hanukkah approaches, with Bodhi Day coming up on December 8, followed by Winter Solstice on December 21, Christmas and New Year's Day.  For years, going through the days of December was like walking through a mine field.  Gradually, something has changed inside me.  Starting this blog on December 8, 2006, was the beginning of whatever it was that made it possible for me to experience December in a different way. 

R loved Bob Dylan's music.  I think he would have liked both of these videos created in connection with Bob Dylan's 2009 album titled "Christmas in the Heart," which was released a year and a half after R died.  R's spirit, like Bob Dylan's, was characterized by gravity and levity and paradox.