The Windmills Of Your Mind Gymnastics

It was the early 1970’s (1970 or 1971) and I was a student in a nice public elementary school. The smell of the books, the bustle of children, the proper teachers and the thrill of constantly learning something new made me fall more in love with school each day. My very young parents were still married and I was extremely happy.

This particular year during gym class we learned some gymnastic skills – cartwheels and tumbling to music. Coordination is not one of my strong points, but I was oblivious to that fact. The true excitement was that the class was going to learn the skills and then during a special program, we would give a show for our parents.

I was THRILLED!

Whether at school or home, in my head I could hear the song that we would use while showing the skills to our parents. I practiced and practiced intent on making my parents proud of me.

Forward rolls.

Stand up.

Turn around.

Backward rolls.

Stand up.

Turn around.

Cartwheels.

Then “walk” back to the end of the line to do it again.

THE night came and donned in our royal blue shorts and white tshirts, the class entered the school gym walking single file. When we were all standing at the end of the gymnastic mats, the music started playing…

My parents sat not too far away watching and waiting for me to perform. I remember feeling like a star…literally. As the music played over and over, eventually it was my turn. As practiced, I performed each gymnastic skill one by one, unhurried and trying not to look at my parents. When I finally got to the end of the mat and right before I headed back to do it all again, I looked over to see them both watching me.

That memory is embedded in my mind. The connection between child and parents – their loving, proud and approving eyes as they both smiled. As far as I was concerned, at that moment, everything was perfect in the world. It left an indelible memory which is still as crisp in the recollection as it was that day. For over the last forty plus years, every time I’ve heard “Windmills of Your Mind,” I’m transported back to that perfect moment in the elementary school gym.

The absolutely perfect moment of my life as the images unwind like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind.

 

The Windmills Of Your Mind

Music by French composer Michel Legrand
English lyrics by Americans Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman

Like a circle in a spiral
Like a wheel within a wheel,
Never ending or beginning,
On an ever-spinning reel
Like a snowball down a mountain,
Or a carnival balloon
Like a carousel that’s turning
Running rings around the moon
Like a clock whose hands are sweeping
Past the minutes on its face
And the world is like an apple
Spinning silently in space
Like the circles that you find
In the windmills of your mind.

Like a tunnel that you follow
To a tunnel of its own
Down a hollow to a cavern
Where the sun has never shone
Like a door that keeps revolving
In a half-forgotten dream
Like the ripples from a pebble
Someone tosses in a stream.
Like a clock whose hands are sweeping
Past the minutes on its face
And the world is like an apple
Spinning silently in space
Like the circles that you find
In the windmills of your mind.

Keys that jingle in your pocket
Words that jangle in your head
Why did summer go so quickly?
Was it something that I said?
Lovers walk along a shore
And leave their footprints in the sand
Was the sound of distant drumming
Just the fingers of your hand?
Pictures hanging in a hallway
or the fragment of a song,
half-remembered names and faces
but to whom do they belong?
When you knew that it was over
Were you suddenly aware
That the autumn leaves were turning
To the color of her hair?
Like a circle in a spiral
Like a wheel within a wheel
Never ending or beginning
On an ever-spinning reel
As the images unwind
Like the circles that you find
In the windmills of your mind.