{"id":607,"date":"2026-02-14T19:49:25","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T19:49:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lalossandabortiondoula.com\/?p=607"},"modified":"2026-03-21T13:41:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T13:41:00","slug":"saturday-at-the-thrift-store","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lalossandabortiondoula.com\/?p=607","title":{"rendered":"Saturday at the Thrift Store"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/www.lalossandabortiondoula.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/NoteGPT_Speech_1774100383547.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Music Behind Intention<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Last weekend I took a small trip with a friend to a local thrift store. It was the kind of place filled with narrow aisles and quiet clutter\u2014rows of old kitchen appliances that I had last seen in my grandmother\u2019s kitchen, shelves of mismatched mugs, boxes of faded board games, and the occasional relic from decades past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We slowly wandered through aisles of old knick-knacks and vintage blenders. There were dusty wedding candles, stacks of old cookbooks, and even a small pile of old Jazzercise workout VHS tapes from the 1980s. It was the kind of place where time seems to collect itself on shelves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As we walked deeper into the store, something unexpected began to cut through the quiet hum of shoppers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At first it was faint\u2014just a few familiar notes floating through the air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then I realized what I was hearing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Bohemian Rhapsody.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A few steps later, another recognizable melody drifted across the store\u2014<em>Moonlight Sonata.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The closer we walked toward the section where the used pianos were kept, the clearer the music became. At first I assumed it must be one of those electronic keyboards that plays automatically when someone presses a button. Many thrift stores keep them around for decoration, occasionally letting them run through demo songs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But as we moved closer, something slowly dawned on me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This wasn\u2019t a recording.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Someone was actually playing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Right there, in the middle of a thrift store on a Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I instantly lost interest in sorting through the pile of Jazzercise VHS tapes and started following the sound of the music toward the piano section.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sitting there was an older man. He had a slightly balding head, thin glasses, and the kind of quiet presence that blends easily into a room. He wasn\u2019t performing for anyone in particular. There was no crowd gathered around him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He was simply playing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Playing to his heart\u2019s content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>From the other side of the store I could hear the passion in the notes. But when I finally reached the piano, curiosity took over. I wanted to know if he was reading sheet music or if those songs were coming entirely from memory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There were no pages in front of him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Just his hands moving confidently across the keys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He wasn\u2019t looking around to see if anyone was watching. He wasn\u2019t playing for applause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He was playing because he loved it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I couldn\u2019t help myself. I stopped beside the piano and told him that I appreciated the music. I wanted to acknowledge the person behind the sound\u2014the passion behind the notes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In that moment, he became the most interesting thing in the entire store.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I would have walked right past the piano section if it weren\u2019t for his melodic talent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Standing there listening reminded me of something written in <em>Letters to a Young Poet<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In those letters, Rainer Maria Rilke encourages the young poet to ask himself a very simple but powerful question: <strong>Must you write?<\/strong> And if the answer is yes\u2014if you feel that your life would feel incomplete without it\u2014then that is your answer. That is the reason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You do it because you must.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not because someone told you to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not because society expects it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But because something inside of you demands expression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Watching that man play the piano felt like witnessing that same idea in motion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He wasn\u2019t playing because anyone asked him to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He wasn\u2019t playing because someone scheduled a performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He was playing because he must.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And passion changes the atmosphere of a space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A thrift store filled with forgotten objects suddenly felt alive because one person had decided to sit down and create something beautiful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Intentional effort transforms ordinary places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And the same thing is true when it comes to raising children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When passion, intention, and care are placed into the work of child rearing, the results ripple outward into the world. A child who grows up surrounded by attention, guidance, and stability often carries that harmony forward into adulthood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Just like music played with care resonates beyond the piano bench, thoughtful parenting resonates beyond the home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But passion cannot be forced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It cannot be assigned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And it certainly cannot be legislated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Real passion\u2014the kind that fills a thrift store with music on a quiet Saturday afternoon\u2014comes from choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>From willingness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>From a person deciding that they want to sit down and give their time, energy, and attention to something meaningful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Parenthood works the same way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When someone chooses it intentionally, they are far more likely to bring the patience, creativity, and dedication that raising a child deserves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But when someone is pushed into parenthood without readiness or desire, the melody changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because raising a child is not something that can be done well on autopilot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It requires presence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It requires commitment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It requires the kind of passion I saw in that man sitting quietly at a thrift store piano.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The world becomes more melodic when the people responsible for shaping the next generation are doing so intentionally\u2014when the work of raising a child is approached with care rather than obligation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not everyone is meant to sit at the piano.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not everyone is meant to perform the same song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But when the people who <em>do<\/em> sit down choose to play with their whole heart, the music has the power to travel far beyond the room where it began.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If choosing motherhood, my best advice is to do so <strong>passionately<\/strong>. And if choosing not to\u2014where abortion may be considered at a crossroads (perfectly fine) \u2014 choose instead (with your time not spent in new motherhood) to become passionate about <strong>yourself and your womanhood on a radical level<\/strong>. Because a passionate woman is powerful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And sometimes, all it takes is a quiet thrift store on a Saturday afternoon to remind us of that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em><strong>Remember that this life is your song, and your melody is your own.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>-Talitha<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Music Behind Intention Last weekend I took a small trip with a friend to a local thrift store. It was the kind of place filled with narrow aisles and quiet clutter\u2014rows of old kitchen appliances that I had last seen in my grandmother\u2019s kitchen, shelves of mismatched mugs, boxes of faded board games, and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":610,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[179],"tags":[200,10,201,26,207,202,213,205,14,15,16,9,224,216,191,208,204,12,17,8,220,203,13,206,222,188,219,214,217,210,218,221,209,225,223,212,226,211,215],"class_list":["post-607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-grey-in-between","tag-abortion-blog","tag-abortion-care-doula","tag-abortion-decision","tag-abortion-doula","tag-abortion-doula-services","tag-abortion-support","tag-child-rearing","tag-choosing-motherhood","tag-doula","tag-doula-la","tag-doulas-in-la","tag-doulas-of-la","tag-everyday-inspiration","tag-feminist-reflection","tag-intentional-motherhood","tag-intentional-parenting","tag-la-abortion-doula","tag-la-doula","tag-la-doulas","tag-lala-abd","tag-letters-to-a-young-poet","tag-los-angeles-abortion-doula","tag-los-angeles-doula","tag-los-angeles-reproductive-support","tag-los-angeles-women","tag-motherhood-reflection","tag-parenting-philosophy","tag-passion-and-purpose","tag-personal-essay","tag-radical-womanhood","tag-reflective-writing","tag-reproductive-autonomy","tag-reproductive-choices","tag-rilke-inspiration","tag-thrift-store-story","tag-womanhood","tag-women-of-los-angeles","tag-womens-choices","tag-womens-empowerment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lalossandabortiondoula.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lalossandabortiondoula.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lalossandabortiondoula.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lalossandabortiondoula.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lalossandabortiondoula.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=607"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.lalossandabortiondoula.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":642,"href":"https:\/\/www.lalossandabortiondoula.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607\/revisions\/642"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lalossandabortiondoula.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lalossandabortiondoula.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lalossandabortiondoula.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lalossandabortiondoula.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}