Nerd Alert: Not only is this going to be a post where the author finds meaning in the lyrics of a corny song, it’s a Billy Joel song. Forgive me. I am a child of the early 80s. I grew up listening to The Stranger on 8-Track. Anyhow, I’ve already confessed my love for Barry Manilow on public radio. Clearly I have no shame. But you already knew that.

You may already know this about me, too: For obvious reasons, I believe that the mother deserves a gift on the kid’s birthday.

Hallmark hasn’t yet embraced this one, so I have taken it upon myself to choose my own gifts. For example, two years ago I gave myself this blog in honor of Sophie’s birthday. Last year, I had it redesigned and trimmed with rick rack. But this year, I hadn’t landed on just the right gift por moi, til last night.

I was driving home late from the office, exhausted. It wasn’t one of those days where you accomplish Big Things (in my business that means taking a politician down or breaking a piece of unbreakable news or maybe just writing a fabulous paragraph, or okay, even a snappy headline) but instead a soul-sucking, mind-numbing day of Little Things.

That’s what it is in Blog Land, that unchartered territory believed to hold just enough buried treasure to keep journalism in business. Little Things. Loading photos, frontloading headlines with key words to make sure you get hits. HITS is my new least favorite four-letter word. It’s gotten so bad that I’ve vowed to some of my co-workers that one day soon, I intend to announce a “Nag-Free Day,” a day I don’t send a single email reminding anyone to put tags on a blog post or chastizing someone for forgetting to Tweet.

It’s all so absurd. Then I got in the car to go home last night, and there was Billy Joel, telling me Vienna waits. Yeah, right. Something about that song distilled everything for me, and in that moment, what I needed to do was clear.

My gift to myself, in honor of Sophie’s 7th Birthday, will be Time. Time to work on a project I’ve been pushing aside, a project that — if I do it right — will if nothing else make me happy. A project I’m absolutely terrified to tackle.

If I get anywhere with it, I promise, you’ll be the first to know.

VIENNA, The Stranger, 1977

Slow down you crazy child
You’re so ambitious for a juvenile
But then if you’re so smart tell me why
You are still so afraid?

Where’s the fire, what’s the hurry about?
You better cool it off before you burn it out
You got so much to do and only
so many hours in a day

But you know that when the truth is told
That you can get what you want
Or you an just get old
You’re gonna kick off before you even get halfway through
When will you realize…Vienna waits for you

Slow down you’re doing fine
You can’t be everything you want to be
Before your time
Although it’s so romantic on the borderline tonight
Too bad but it’s the life you lead
You’re so ahead of yourself
That you forfeit what you need
Though you can see when you’re wrong

But you know you can’t always see when you’re right
You got your passion you got your pride
But don’t you know only fools are satisfied?
Dream on but don’t imagine they’ll all come true
When will you realize
Vienna waits for you

Slow down you crazy child
Take the phone off the hook
And disappeaar for a while
It’s alright you can afford to lose a day or two
When will you realize…
Vienna waits for you.