“After the Glitter Fades”

Living gratefully today, I offer appreciation for the many singers and songwriters who have inspired me over the years, for my ears that can hear, and for modern technology that makes it easy for me to pull up any song I want to hear.

I do still appreciate the randomness of radio, and so when Stevie Nicks came on my car radio yesterday morning singing “After the Glitter Fades,” I was reminded of how much I like that song. You can listen to it here.

I began thinking about her Fleetwood Mac bandmate and longtime friend Christine McVie who died recently. I also thought of singer Irene Cara (“Fame” and “Flashdance”) and actress Kirstie Alley (Emmy-award winner for “Cheers”) who both died recently too. McVie was 79, Cara 63, and Alley 71. Three women from my era of music, movies, and TV.

I am not so far away from my sixties and seventies myself, God-willing. These three women knew fame, fortune, and misfortune. Their body of work impacted many people. It got me thinking about my own body of work: as a writer, as a school counselor, as a family member, friend, runner, recovering person.

And about my own good fortune, the non-monetary kind. It is extensive, and it continues to grow as I gain presence and perspective in day-to-day life. I know misfortune too. We all do. It’s what we do or don’ do with it that matters.

I did a little research on Songfacts for “After the Glitter Fades” and was surprised that Stevie Nicks wrote the song in 1972, before Fleetwood Mac fame. She also wrote “Landslide” in this time period. I think of some of my own writing and how it told my story before I could.

Here is the song’s refrain:

For me it's the only life

That I've ever known

And love is only one fine star away

Even though the living

Is sometimes laced with lies

It's alright

The feeling remains

Even after the glitter fades

I can sometimes become bitter. About the way our world seems headed. About my job. About hard work not paying off as I wish it would. Where has the glitter faded in my own life? Aging is perhaps a form of fading, but I also believe it brings new wisdom and therefore new glitter.

There is much that glitters and sparkles in my life. When I look for it, I find it. Pretty easily. Pretty readily and steadily. This is the profound impact of living gratefully. Small points of generous glitter. Seemingly tiny sparks of joy. They grow into daily gifts.