The Pre-Read

I've always been a wimp when I get sick. I don't know why, but when I feel horrible, I'm a whiner, a moaner. I just hate getting sick. But perhaps the worst thing of being really sick is not having mom to run to.

I don't know that I would run to mom right now. But knowing that I can't makes me feel all the more worse. Even as an adult just a few words from mom on what I was feeling, the over protective "you should do this, or you should do that" was met with "i'm fine" from me, but deep down I loved the attention and would try those remedies.

My mom has been gone now a little over two years. And while I miss her every day. It's days like today, that I truly miss her. I wish I could just stop by the house, have her offer me some advice, or just be motherly. Because sometimes the best medicine is mom.

I miss you mom.

Amazed

I'm not exactly sure why I didn't post this last year but I didn't. After re reading the post I thought it deserved posting. The sentiments are the same.

 

 

I've written before about where I was and what I was doing when I learned of the attacks on September 11, 2001. In a nutshell, I was asleep. My old answering machine kept clicking which meant someone was leaving a message. Normally it clicked once. This particular morning it clicked a few times.

The horror I experienced once I turned on the television was mirrored by millions of people across the country and world. And when we all learned the mastermind was a man named Osama bin Laden we had a person we could hold accountable.

I don't know that I ever thought it would take nearly 10 years for him to be dealt with. And I have my own theories as to why it did take that long. But this isn't the post to air those.

Last night I was in my car when I got several text messages. The first read simply "We killed bin Laden." I turned my satellite radio from music to news and sure enough got the confirmation.

I listened as a reporter talked of "30 to 40 people gathering at the gates of the White House," and continued to listen as that number increased.

My reaction was a mixed one. No, actually, my initial reaction was not mixed. I was grateful. I was almost euphoric. Then, after a moment, I prayed and asked for forgiveness because it was difficult for me to feel anything other than happiness at this man's death. Something my Christian faith tells me is not appropriate.

In the midst of it all, I thought of the people who were in the middle of it all some hours prior. The soldiers who risked their lives to carry out a mission that was, or still is, of so much import to this nation and especially those who lost loved ones on that fateful September morning. Those young soldiers who suffered a setback when their helicopter experienced mechanical difficulties. The families of those soldiers who did not know where their loved ones were, except that they were no doubt, once again, in harms way.

The situation in that compound was one I could only have imagined. But the photo released today by the White House of the president and his team sitting in the Situation Room as events unfolded, conveyed, to me at least, the horror of what was going on. And, on some level, the relief of what was happening.

The look of the president is distinct. That of Secretary Clinton is probably how I would have reacted. In any case, it was a monumental undertaking that meant so much to this nation. Watched on television by a small group of individuals watching another small group of individuals achieve what so many began to believe was impossible.

History is written on the faces of those in that photo. And that photo, I think, probably best illustrates the reaction of so many Americans when they learned the news that Osama bin Laden had finally been brought to justice.

 

Drunk Parking

Brilliant ad campaign from Brazil I believe.

Sometimes we need see things from a different persepctive to understand the true meaning.

 

Goodbye Phoebe

Such sad news. It is reported that Phoebe Snow has passed away.

The New York Times has a really wonderful write up of her life and career. The Times says she was 60, but other sources put her age at 58.

I didn't know much about her, other than she had an amazing voice and that she seemed to have disappeared for a time. Apparently she had a daughter born with developmental problems and devoted much of her time to taking care of her. The daughter, Valarie, who was not expected to live beyond toddler age died in 2007.

In a recent interview Snow said her daughter was her reason for living, that through her she experienced the best love had to offer. Maybe it's fitting that she deserves rest now, after a life of challenges.

The song for which she was most well known is also my favorite. Poetry Man is so emblematic of a period of time in my life. Listening to it transports me to my childhood where the cares of the world are far, far away.

Phoebe Snow will be so missed. if there is an afterlife, I hope she is happy now with her grateful daughter and together they can make beautiful music.

 

Who Knew?

I like Mare Winningham.

I remember her mostly from movies in the 80s. She was in St. Elmo's Fireand was kind of labeled one of the Brat Pack. Although she never really seemed to attractthe type of news that other member like Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, Andrew McCarthy, Judd Nelson or Emelio Estevez would attract.

Since that movie I've noticed her in a number of features and television movies/series and she's always terrific. She gets a great deal of work and that has resulted in at least 11 acting award nominations including an Oscar nomination for 1996s Georgia. She is currently co starring in the HBO Mini Series Mildred Pierce starring Kate Winslet.

While she has never gained the kind of fame that her past co stars may have, maybe that's not such a bad thing considering that fame.

Regardless, she's a terrific actress, but she also had a talent I knew nothing about. She can sing. And when I say she can sing, what I really mean to say is SHE CAN SING!

While I enjoy seeing her in front of the camera, I think she has a whole career in music should she want it. I mean...listen to that voice!

Who knew? 

Elton John

I am still amazed by his talent.

V for Victory

When I was very little, I can remember seeing some people holding up the peace sign. In a time when the war in Viet Nam was pulling the country apart my uncle and his friends, would espouse peace and love.

I also remember my mom, who spoke english as a second language, when asking about the spelling of a word " do you mean V as in victory, or B as in boy?" and she would hold up the peace sign. Finally, one day I said something along the lines of "you know, when you hold up your fingers in the sign of the V you're really holding up a peace sign."

She smiled at me and said it was fine if I thought it was a peace sign, but to her, it was the sign of Victory. She remembered, as a child herself, seeing newspaper photos of Winston Churchill holding up his fingers in the sing of Victory; saying to the world that while England may be on the ropes, there is no doubt that victory was ahead.

Seeing the throngs of people in Egypt holding up the V sign reminded me of my mom. And it made me reflect that the tenants of freedom, of liberty that a people strive for are timeless, and whatever the symbols they use, the meaning behind them is universal. The right of the people to govern themselves.

Let's hope the aftermath lives up to the expectations of those who now taste liberty.

Much To Young

While I was pretty much raised in Southern California I was actually born in Texas. I've listened, off and on, to country music most of my life. When I was in high school I didn't listen to it much, but thumbing through old yearbook photos I notice that didn't prevent me from wearing a cowboy hat from time to time.

I still have a couple of hats, a couple pair of boots, but don't wear them much these days.

When Country Western music started to crossover with more contemporary sounds in the '90 I noticed I was listening to it almost exclusively. Garth Brooks, Clint Black, Lorrie Morgan, George Strait...well the list goes on.

The music was twangy enough for my likes, but mainstream sounding enough that the public really seemed to embrace it.

I officially learned line dances, learned to two step and turned out to be fairly good at both if I do say so myself. I even taught a few classes here and there.

There was something truly liberating about the music and the dancing. Where couples dancing usually meant standing in front of your partner and moving about; two stepping necessitated embracing your partner. And there was always something very special about that I enjoyed. I remember more than once being asked to dance and almost always obliging.

The years have moved on and so have I. Country Western music is a little more pop sounding to me than I like. I've tried to listen to any number of CW stations, but I inevitably revert back to an oldies CW station, even if oldies now refers not only the the golden age of country music, but even music from the '90s.

Someone asked recently why I don't go dancing any longer. I mentioned, of course, the lack of connection to the music. But that's only part of the reason. The truth is I feel old.

It's not that I'm tired or anything like that. I just feel terribly old. I can't imagine walking into a bar and being the oldest, or at least one of the oldest people there.  Now I'm not really that old, and maybe this is more in my head, but the people in bars now are in the 20s and 30s. I'm not in either any longer.

I was going through You Tube and came across the song below. It's funny because this song, more than most, brings me back to that dancing time that I enjoyed so much.

So here it is. And who knows, maybe one of these days I'll find a Country Western bar that plays the oldies from the 1990s and I'll don my hat and boots and cut a rug.

Enjoy!

 

 

 

Phooey on Episodes 1,2 & 3

Apparently THIS is how it all started!

 

Zack Wahls For Office

Not just articulate, but he speaks with authority and resonance. I'm sure we'll be seeing more of him. I hope we'll be seeing more of him in elected office.