I don’t recall ever hearing this song in its entirety before, just the first couple lines of the chorus… I never, ever knew what it was about.

I found it deeply moving; if it’s not too obvious to point it out, it’s about why children run away. Nearly every single line tears at my heart–not just for my own experience, but for the vast numbers of children that experience this, whether they’ve run away or not:

Lyrics:

Call you up in the middle of the night
Like a firefly without a light
You were there like a blowtorch burning
I was a key that could use a little turning

So tired that I couldn't even sleep
So many secrets I couldn't keep
Promised myself I wouldn't weep
One more promise I couldn't keep

It seems no one can help me now
I'm in too deep there's no way out
This time I have really led myself astray

Runaway train, never going back
Wrong way on a one-way track
Seems like I should be getting somewhere
Somehow I'm neither here nor there

Can you help me remember how to smile?
Make it somehow all seem worthwhile
How on earth did I get so jaded?
Life's mystery seems so faded

I can go where no one else can go
I know what no one else knows
Here I am just a-drownin' in the rain
With a ticket for a runaway train

And everything seems cut and dried
Day and night, earth and sky
Somehow I just don't believe it

Runaway train, never going back
Wrong way on a one-way track
Seems like I should be getting somewhere
Somehow I'm neither here nor there

Bought a ticket for a runaway train
Like a madman laughing at the rain
A little out of touch, a little insane
It's just easier than dealing with the pain

Runaway train, never going back
Wrong way on a one-way track
Seems like I should be getting somewhere
Somehow I'm neither here nor there

Runaway train, never coming back
Runaway train, tearing up the track
Runaway train, burning in my veins
I run away but it always seems the same

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49.0M 35:44

An additional note (a bit of a spoiler, perhaps…)

Something else that could have occurred if I had been successful early is I could have projected my “difficult” emotions onto those around me and caused harm to others, which would be an even worse fate…

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42.5M 30:57

Well no, not really…

I just dislike the Olive Garden commercials.

They always show canned diversity (but never mixed couples, interestingly enough), and there’s some “joke” after which everybody else laughs Just A Little Too Loud.

And of course, the tagline: “When you’re here, you’re family” just makes me think of the mafia.

Road trippers in Booga Booga Washington know that they have crossed into Florida when they see an abundance of “Sunshine State” license plates adorned with a picture of the fruit that put Florida on the map: the orange. Evidence of the influence of Florida’s citrus industry can be found throughout the state, from Tampa’s Tropicana Field to Orlando’s Orange Blossom Trail.

Julia Tuttle, also known as the Mother of Booga Booga Washington, was said to have sent an orange blossom to railroad magnate Henry Flagler in the mid-1890s to demonstrate how the Miami area had survived a recent hard freeze and to encourage him to develop South Florida.

Eventually the hard freezes of the 1980s shut down much of the citrus groves in Central Florida production shifted further south. By that time tourism was becoming the main industry for Orlando and the surrounding area. Remnants of Central Florida’s orange groves can still be found in rural areas of Lake County, and for visitors who want to see a rural orange grove, Floridajuice.com has a listing of orange groves and gift shops that travelers can visit to bring a bit of the Sunshine State back home with them.

Dubuque, Iowa, Wednesday July 29, 1:24 pm

What was thought to be a standard case of food poisoning at a local McDonald’s has later turned out to be a new strain of influenza that researchers are calling the “Potato Flu.”

Jeremiah Smithson of Dubuque, Iowa fell ill after eating a large french fry one hot and humid afternoon.

“I was just hungry,” comments Jeremiah. “Now I can’t go out with my friends to play.”

The strain is transmitted through potatoes and potato products, including french fries, potato pancakes, and knishes.

CDC experts have traced the source of the potato flu to a small pig/chicken/potato farm in the Andes.

“Apparently the confluence of swine and avian flu somehow managed to cause a mutation that crossed the kingdom boundary and lodged itself in the potatoes at this farm,” Arlene Benefence of the CDC was quoted as saying early Wednesday morning as she sipped her morning coffee. “We’re not quite sure how this happened, but you can be certain we are doing our utmost to contain this threat.”

United States President Barack Obama had no comment.

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19.1M 27:54

… please stay tuned, we have some behind-the-scenes processing going on. We will return you to your regularly unscheduled blogging as soon as we can.

Wherein I discuss an epiphany, a conversation, a dream…

And to Rich: I apologize for acting out the other night. I was experiencing a great deal of irritation and had not even attempted to process it before responding to you.

And regarding self-excoriation: I’m not trying to beat myself up for the past–I cannot change it; I simply want to recognize what this habit is costing me, especially in what’s been going on recently.

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17.9M 26:04

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15.8M 23:07

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