Can't take love out of me
‘You have to get a flu shot,’ my manager tells me. ‘Now.’
I’ve never had a flu shot, and like a coward I’ve been putting it off. But that’s no longer possible. Head office has caught up with me. It must be done today.
I phone a nearby surgery to book in. The receptionist puts me on hold and music by the Jamaican-American electronic dance music trio, Major Lazer, drifts down the line:
You can’t take the light from the sun You can’t take the waves from the ocean You can’t take the wind from the trees No you can’t take the love out of me yeah!
The beat is catchy and so are the words. My feet tap the rhythm on the floor as I grab a scrap of paper and jot down the words. Then I’m out of my chair, doing my pathetic version of cool reggae moves. If my desk wasn’t so cluttered I’d be dancing on it.
Mid-chorus the music stops. ‘Hello. Sorry to keep you waiting.’
I wish she’d kept me waiting a bit longer. I want to hear the rest of the song. But it’s not to be. It’s time to get jabbed by a long needle packed with viruses, preservatives, antibiotics and sugars.
‘You can’t take the light from the sun . . . you can’t take the waves from the ocean . . . you can’t take the love out of me . . .’ I sing in the car on the way to the surgery. The words stream over and over in my head, especially that bit about love.
Taking light from the sun, waves from the ocean and the wind right out of the trees is impossible. Is it also that hard to take the love out of me?
Or, like the song implies, is love always there?
Sometimes clouds block the sun, but the light is still there, waiting to break through.
Sometimes the ocean is flat, but there are waves coursing underneath, out of sight.
Sometimes trees are motionless, but the wind is still there, in the form of resting air.
Sometimes I forget to love, but love is always present, just waiting for me to get out of the way so it can come through.
As the nurse swabs my upper arm and prepares to prick me, I imagine being light, being a wave, being the wind. Being love. It helps me get through the ordeal.
Living with mindfulness
Love is in you, just as surely as that flu injection is now in me.
Love is what you’re made of.
As Major Lazer says, no one can take the love out of you. Yeah!
It’s always there.
With love, Marlane