Two love songs

One of my favorite love songs is the Roches' "Home Away From Home", about two vulnerable people finding each other.

She was twenty-six when she came to the 'burbs
Where the family secrets stop at the curb
I was nine when she moved next door
She had married a Republican, he was for the war

Over at my house, things were sad
Because my folks were always fighting - that made me feel bad
I went to her door with a cookie tin
I said I am your neighbor, would you let me in
She was big, having a baby
She asked me are you hungry and I said maybe
She gave me soup, a piece of toast
She gave me what I needed the most

Thank you for the love you gave
To me as a child
There must have been so much pain
That you never cried
In my home away from home.

Our society stresses romantic love, but sometimes it's the other kinds we need most. Love can be soup, love can be listening, love can be encouragement.

Another song that never fails to swell my heart is Dar Williams' "You're Aging Well".

Why is it that as we grow older and stronger
The road signs point us adrift and make us afraid
Saying, "You never can win,"
"Watch your back," "Where's your husband?"
Oh, I don't like the signs that the signmakers made.

So I'm gonna steal out with my paint and my brushes
I'll change the directions, I'll hit every street
It's the Tinseltown scandal, the Robin Hood vandal
She goes out and steals the King's English
In the morning you wake up and the signs point to you

They say,
"I'm so glad that you finally made it here,"
"You thought nobody cared, but I did, I could tell,"
And "This is your year," and "It always starts here,"
And oh, "You're aging well."

May you have a year of growing older and stronger, a year of love in unexpected places, a year of the signs pointing to you (wherever you are).