Just do it for love.

"In your world of noise
Or in your quiet place
Whatever you say
Whatever you do. . . .

Just do it for love."

~ anonymous man on the beach

This lovely man sang an original song for my friends and me today on the beach. He threw back his head and lifted his voice over that salty air like no one was even watching. And it was beautiful. Really, really beautiful like bells ringing in unison or Etta James singing "At Last."

I asked him his name and he just laughed real easy-like and said, "Yeah, mon, I'm just the singing guy." And that was as much as he was willing to say so I left it at that.

The Singing Guy sang that song plus another by Tracy Chapman that was hauntingly soulful. We applauded and he beamed brighter than that Caribbean sun -- seeming to appreciate our genuine entertainment far more than those few loose bills we dropped into his hat.

That made me think about all of the amazingly talented people in tiny pockets all over the place and how few people get to see them or hear them. Strumming guitars and writing music that sounds as perfect as anything I could purchase on iTunes. Or maybe even better.

As a writer, I relate to this. Our applause was affirming. And affirmations feel good.

And so I offered more. "Singing Guy, I loved your original song the best of all. Those are good words for me to hear in my head going into a new year. Thank you for sharing them with us."

And he beamed again. This time even brighter.

I recorded his song and have replayed it for myself two and a half times already. (That's how I remembered the lyrics.) Even though he gave me permission to share his picture and my little iPhone video, I wasn't fully sure if I should. Hmm. Will think about that some more.

"In your world of noise
Or in your quiet place
Whatever you say
Whatever you do. . . .

Just do it for love."

That's a good word on a whole lot of levels. Yeah, mon.

***
Happy Friday.