Day: August 25, 2019

Laying here listening to Alabama sing “If You’re Gonna Play in Texas (You’ve Gotta’ Have a Fiddle in the Band)” and I remember when they were the “hot” New Country band. Winning all the CMA awards. And Johnny Cash was still alive and well.

We saw a lot of the good Country artists back in the 80’s, at that field over at Calhoun, they called “Concerts in the Country” Hell..Kenny Rogers opened there one Summer..And it was WAY before he had his surgery, and he still looked like hisself. I sang right along with him on “The Gambler” and sounded so much like him that the people in row 8 couldn’t even tell I was singing at the top of my lungs. George Jones came there two or three times, and always closed with “He Stopped Loving Her Today” Diamond Rio was a local favorite at first because Jule Medders wrote one of their hits and he was a teacher from Calhoun, and there was the Judds,…before Wynonna got all kinda’ strange, and Naomi still looked great. Ray Stephens sang “The Streak” and Pam Tillis came and went during that ten years. And yeah…Alabama was there too.

The Eighties it was…Country music was fine back then…old Garth Brooks came there in ’89 I think it was, and the early 90’s saw that venue go back to being a cow pasture. Couldn’t pay them enough to come sing in the middle of a field they said, in a big old tent. Wasn’t fancy enough. I loved it though, even if did take a solid hour to get out..And I got stuck in the mud every time it rained hard…I think that was the beginning of the end for “real” Country music.

I had waited too late to get in on it, cause the winds of change was blowing’

I love sunrises and sunsets. Trees and rivers…beaches and snow capped mountains. Birds and bees, foxes and beaver. I have seen all of these things with my own eyes and I know them.

Almost anything which exists in nature has it’s own beauty and symmetry.

But I also love churches and cemeteries. I love bridges and lighthouses…rusty old wagon wheels and sewer covers. Remains of ancient buildings or a lovely finely crafted arrowhead. These things created by man also have beauty.

I have appreciated the chance to live, and to witness these things, and so much more.

I love the family of which I am a part. I continue to be here because of them. I want to protect them, though I know they are well able to protect themselves. My children long ago grew to adulthood. All things change.

The personal relationships. The human achievements. The natural world. They all change. We humans are foolish to even believe we will always be the dominant force on this planet. That will also eventually change. Whether by our own hand or by nature’s whim. We are transient. We are today’s dinosaurs.

We ought to be smart enough to pull together as mankind, and reach out to the stars, and try and extend our race to some of those other Earth like planets which are just waiting for us. But instead we are petty. We are too busy hating each other for our miniscule variations in skin pigment, sexual attraction, and perceived different philosophical values, to see that we are all …simply… human.

I think daily of things we might do to make ourselves of service to each other. Simple things…nothing complex. Compassion, love, kindness, recognition, respect, civility, friendship, giving. One word sermons. I think daily of my age, and of the chances I have had to be better, but was not. I hope I can live long enough to practice some of what I should have been doing all along.

I would not wish to be young again…not in this day and age. It has taken me all these years already to realize how deep are my shortcomings. I wouldn’t relish reliving those learning experiences.

Look at yourself in the mirror, where you are now in your journey, and ask yourself if you are happy with what you see. Listen to yourself and decide if what you are saying or writing is helping or hurting other people. Sometimes you may have to change in order to make a difference for the positive in this life. It’s not as hard as we make it out to be…