Boring Enormous.

Four years ago, I spent more than a few hours listening to ‘Stereo’ through my headphones in the back yard, usually around dusk, drinking Johnny Walker Red and watching the woods turn black. I won’t say it’s my favorite PW solo outing, but at that time I couldn’t hear it enough. And I won’t say that ‘Boring Enormous’ is my favorite song on it . . . well, maybe I will.

I’ve been epically wrong at times as to understanding just what some of Paul’s songs are about, but this one to me is an ode to middle age and marriage. What four years ago seemed vaguely prophetic now rings rather true. ‘No longer in a hurry to get anywhere’ . ‘We always laugh at the choices we make’. ‘Asking ourselves, when did it get so early?’ .

Yes. Yes. And, yes.

Who knew that parties and social events could change from being life-sustaining to annoying as hell, that nine o’clock on a Friday night would be a great time to be on your couch, that a nap on a quiet afternoon could be positively delicious? With each passing year, your expectations get lower but the simple joys grow higher. The reality of life settles on you, and your plans to set the world on fire (if I can crib from another album) are revealed to be little but youthful idealism. And you realize that all of that is  . . . okay. Tripping outside to ‘play’ with my wife is about as high as my ambitions get nowadays.

Maybe I’m way off base about the song. Maybe you think I need to go to work for Hallmark. But these days I’m content to be boring. And when I glance in the mirror?  I still look a little afraid.