Mondays are my favorite because they feel like a new year, except every week.

I know, I know, statistically heart attacks most often , but I’m not giving in to a statistic. I love a fresh start. It’s why I prefer sunrise to sunset.

By this particular Monday morning, you probably already know there was a mistake of   proportion at the 2017 Oscars–La La Land was mistakenly awarded Best Picture due to Price Waterhouse giving Warren Beaty and Faye Dunaway the wrong category envelope. The rightful winner was Moonlight; the obsidian counter to celestial La La Land.

(For the record I haven’t seen Moonlight, but I’m a fan of Maharshala Ali, winner of Best Supporting Actor for his role as a drug dealer who becomes a father figure to a kid who’s a punching bag for bullies and the son of a drug addict.)

Anyway…

The music in La La Land is at least half the reason I love the movie and want to watch it again and again. It strikes a chord that reverberates through my heart, begs tears to fall, and swirls inside my head long after play has ended. The music and lyrics are haunting and beautiful, and that opening number? Spectacular.

I wish there was a video available of Emma Stone singing her audition at the movie’s end, The Fools Who Dream; since I can’t, and follow the lyrics below.

My aunt used to live in Paris.
I remember, she used to come home and tell us these stories about being abroad and
I remember she told us that she jumped into the river once, barefoot.

She smiled…

Leapt, without looking
And tumbled into the Seine
The water was freezing
She spent a month sneezing
But said she would do it again

Here’s to the ones who dream
Foolish as they may seem
Here’s to the hearts that ache
Here’s to the mess we make

She captured a feeling
Sky with no ceiling
The sunset inside a frame

She lived in her liquor
And died with a flicker
I’ll always remember the flame

Here’s to the ones who dream
Foolish as they may seem
Here’s to the hearts that ache
Here’s to the mess we make

She told me:
“A bit of madness is key
To give us new colors to see
Who knows where it will lead us?
And that’s why they need us”

So bring on the rebels
The ripples from pebbles
The painters, and poets, and plays

And here’s to the fools who dream
Crazy as they may seem
Here’s to the hearts that break
Here’s to the mess we make

I trace it all back to then
Her, and the snow, and the Seine
Smiling through it
She said she’d do it again.

Here’s to the ones who dream…. 🙂