Your devils and your deeds.

Of course – of course – I am a Joni Mitchell fan.  I was brought up on Blue, and A Case of You is one of my all-time favourite songs.

For some reason, I was thinking recently about one of its most famous lines: go to him, stay with him if you can, but be prepared to bleed.

When I was younger, a dramatic teenager with a stereotypical penchant for bad boys who didn’t actually like me all that much, this line made perfect sense to me.  I wasn’t only ‘prepared’ to bleed in the name of love – I kind of wanted to.  I thought it was a prerequisite.  I never even questioned it.

Then when I became a sensible twenty-something, I rejected that notion entirely – again, without thinking about it too much.  It was a stupid idea; I knew so much better now.  Metaphorical bleeding was not only undesirable but wholly unnecessary.  Anyone who thought like that was clearly a moron.

And when I think about it now?  I’m just not sure.  Maybe that’s what growing up really is: becoming less sure about some things just as you learn others.  I still agree with Joni about what love is: touching souls…and surely you touched mine, because a part of you comes out of me in these lines, from time to time.

And surely that's the only thing that matters in the end - which means that it's going to be OK either way.