Mom dying this year was hard enough, but then the election and two friend committing suicide has made this a very bleak year indeed.

Sometimes music helps me cry, even if it’s hard to believe the lyrics of an amazing performance like Ledisi’s cover of What a Wonderful World, which takes my breath away.
 

 Likewise, the performance by Alex Newell with a trans choir makes me cry EVERY time, especially when you hear his unworldly last note.  This performance alone deserves an emmy!

I also burst out in tears listening to the lyrics of a song I’ve known for many years, My Grown Up Christmas List:

Do you remember me?  I sat upon your knee
I wrote to you with childhood fantasies
Well I’m all grown up now, And still need help somehow
I’m not a child but my heart still can dream
So here’s my lifelong wish, My grown up Christmas list
Not for myself but for a world in need
No more lives torn apart, That wars would never start
And time would heal all hearts, And everyone would have a friend
And right would always win, And love would never end, no
This is my grown up Christmas list
As children we believe, The grandest sight to see
Was something lovely wrapped beneath the tree
But Heaven only knows, That packages and bows
Can never heal a heartached human soul
What is this illusion called the innocence of youth
Maybe only in our blind belief can we ever find the truth?