I'm not the first or last through this Circle Game

I want to use this space to leave record of my thoughts, expressions and reflections on my new life as a parent. And these may not always be my own - I'll grab, steal and borrow from those more talented than myself. And I'll give these talented people credit. Talented people like Joni Mitchell.

With a hard week of work behind me, I couldn't help but think how hard work must be when you have a child to consider alongside your own issues and daily routine. I asked myself, "Will I be good at it?" "Does it ever relent?"

Sure enough, I found myself listening to Joni Mitchell shortly after and felt I should read the lyrics a little closer:

The Circle Game (1966)

Yesterday a child came out to wonder
Caught a dragonfly inside a jar
Fearful when the sky was full of thunder
And tearful at the falling of a star

chorus:
And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return, we can only look behind
From where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game

Then the child moved ten times
round the seasons
Skated over ten clear frozen streams
Words like "when you're older"
must appease him
And promises of someday make his dreams

chorus

Sixteen springs and sixteen summers gone now
Cartwheels turn to car wheels
through the town
And they tell him, "take your time,
it won't be long now"
Till you drag your feet to slow
the circles down

chorus

So the years spin by and now the
boy is twenty
Though his dreams have lost some grandeur coming true
There'll be new dreams, maybe better
dreams and plenty
Before the last revolving year
is through

chorus


This song helped to me realize the beautiful nature of my own life, as I "look behind" but more importantly to confirm that the life ahead of me is one faced, managed and achieved by many before my time and will run full circle for many more. Sometimes I need to know I'm not facing anything vastly different than what many others have done and that I am not alone on the circle game.