“Shop Around,” the 1960 hit by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, has been playing inside my head for the past couple days. In the lyrics a mother tells her son to find a girl whose love is really true and advises him to shop around till he finds her.
Shopping could be on someone’s mind today because it’s almost Christmas and she may still need to buy some gifts. But that’s not my story.
“Shop Around” is a joyful song, and its morals are down to earth: Don’t settle for just any good looking match and Secure the one who loves you. I just watched Smokey and the Miracles perform the song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YPdVqwk978), and he’s especially suave and sparkling, even with out of sync vocals and visuals.
My friend Frances, with whom I’ve shopped numerous times, says that I’m very clear about what I’m looking for, whether that’s groceries or clothing. We’ve been friends since our early thirties. She says that if I find what I want, then I don’t keep looking for other items, and if I don’t find what I want, then I go someplace else or forget about the desired purchase for a while.
Shopping, shopping, shopping–decades and decades, 2 husbands, women and men. Frances would say that I know now what I want.
Smoky miracles. Aren’t all miracles smoky? We may know what we want, but all the causes that create the effect that is a miracle remain mysterious.
Yes, Joanna, all miracles are smoky. You have a level of clarity that’s fun, exciting, and enchanting. It is miraculous to read even these meditations on the present, the now.