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Edward Leroy Earworm front man for the band

The Daily Prompt for today happens to be about one of my favorite things — Earworms! I’ve written about them before!

What’s an earworm? you may ask. According to the Urban Dictionary an earworm is ‘A song that sticks in your mind, and will not leave no matter how much you try (to stop it). The best way to get rid of an earworm is to replace it with another. Be prepared to become a jukebox.’

You can hop on over to Earworms and read about it if you wish. I think it’s interesting that the prompt includes quotes in the Earworm category. But hey! It’s their prompt! And it just so happens that I HAVE had a quote stuck in my head since Christmas Eve. I was wandering around aimlessly at church before the service when one of the guys I know asked me if I was lost. He was teasing, of course. I ALWAYS wander around aimlessly at church.

But my immediate response to him was: Not all those who wander are lost. I could tell he wondered what in blazes I was talking about. 😀 That quote is taken from the poem All That is Gold Does Not Glitter, written by J. R. R. Tolkien for his fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings. It alludes to an integral part of the plot, and describes Aragorn, son of Arathorn, the future king. The poem reads:

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
~~~~~
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.

(Sorry. Just HAD to post it here. 😀 )
I’ve always been arrested by that quote. It seems like for the last 14 years between bouts of spelunking in the cave of my soul, I’ve played the role of Wandering Ranger looking for an elusive me. But I’m not lost. I’m on a mission. I’m gathering information. 
Some people have said to me it’s pointless to try to figure out what’s beneath the quirks and phobias of my life. They want me to just get on with the job of living. But what they don’t understand is that I’m not DOING that job very well. At least it doesn’t seem so to me. I need the resources I’m finding along my journey to help me morph into the best person I can be. Sometimes I get discouraged, though, and start to think they’re right. But then I will find quotes sprinkled through my life like clues on a treasure map, and I KNOW I must continue my journey. I found another clue today!

To journey without being changed is to be a nomad. To change without journeying is to be a chameleon. To journey and be transformed by the journey is to be a pilgrim. (Mark Nepo, The Exquisite Risk)

That’s all it took to get my heart racing again. “Pilgrim” is a watch word for me. I love the song by that name by Enya. And I hope that through all this journeying I will become more and more who I was meant to be.

So with the coming year I will be off wandering again journaling my way through a new book. I hope you will continue to travel with me. You never know when you may find some interesting artifacts of your own!

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DAILY PROMPT: Earworm

Write whatever you normally write about, and weave in a book quote, film quote, or song lyric that’s been sticking with you this week.