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Mike and I went out with some friends last weekend to Swallow at the Hollow, a tasty dinner and fun venue despite the unfortunate moniker. Three country/folky songwriters were performing that night and we stayed for the show. As a result, I’m developing a theory about lyrics, mostly pop and pop country: If the song begins with the word “I,” I’m probably not going to like it (take, for example, most American Idol singles). These lyrics seem easy. A little bit cookie-cutter.
As a corollary, Mike Nelson offered the suggestion that if the song mentions a car by name (mostly Chevy and Ford), it’s not looking good for that one, either. See almost every country song ever.
While I might anticipate backlash from songwriter friends (how many songs have I written, again?), almost all their songs are lyrically strong, with every word pored over and deliberate. I appreciate that about them.
Mike’s granddaddy Jud turns 98 this coming weekend, and my great-aunt Pearl will be 99 this October. Both of them are remarkably sharp in the mind to be as near 100 as they are, and Mike and I have both spent several hours listening to their stories. Granddaddy Jud’s tale about the first time he shoed a horse is worth hearing over and over (which is handy when you’re a Nelson and you hear the same stories a lot). Aunt Pearl’s memory of December 7, 1941 can bring tears to my eyes.
It may be time-consuming to visit your older relatives. You may have to yell at them to be heard (heaven knows Mike and I have done our share). You may hear the same story a few different times. But when they’re gone, you’ll be so very, very glad you did.
I turned over 200,000 miles in my 1995 Nissan Maxima this week. I take a small amount of pride in that.
Be that as it may, and even though I love being an unofficial member of the Junky Car Club, I’m looking forward to getting a car that doesn’t pretend it’s not going to start each morning.
At the risk of sounding high on the horse, I was a pretty smart kid. I was in “enrichment” classes in elementary school and almost always took a higher-level math class than other kids in my grade. As you can imagine, I also got made fun of a lot.
In high school, Ms. Bachelor, my counselor, told me I had a lot of potential. I got that a lot. In college, I started to believe it. But after I graduated from college, I stopped hearing it. Now that I’m thirty, I can’t remember the last time I heard it.
That’s because it’s time I started fulfilling my potential. You have it when you’re eighteen. Not when you’re thirty. By the time you’re thirty, you’d better be living up to your potential. If you’re thirty and still think you have a lot of potential, you’re a has-been.
I have a hard time choosing my favorite season … there are only four, so one will inevitably feel left out were I to begin assigning superlatives. Fall is the most fun, I think, overrun with excitement and anticipation, but then spring is just so beautiful and carefree and you get to start wearing linen again. Summer is definitely nice, with Sunday afternoons by the pool and trips to the beach, but I really love winter, too, because you just never know when you might wake up to snow.
But there are downsides. Significant ones. Two things that make me nutty in winter: dry skin and being shocked by everything. Honest to goodness, the zippers on the pillows on my sofa shock the living daylights out of me, which is to say nothing of the screw in the light switch plate. I’m looking forward to getting humidity back.
… And the Christmas season is over, just like that. I forgot about my Christmas tree header on the blog here and am hoping that doesn’t count as having decorations up past New Year’s. My grandmother might roll over in her grave.
There’s something sad to me about Christmas decorations left up too long. It’s like hanging on to the past. Time to move on, move up, and keep going.
These photos of the Christmas lights in Gatlinburg symbolize that idea to me. They were done by Jeremy Cowart, a super-talented photographer who has done some work for Catalyst.
This family was on the Today Show last week and, while I admire their frugality, I was left wondering why their story is news. The big gig i
s that they have five kids and no debt and live debt free on very little. It’s impressive that they live on $44K each year, but I feel like most of us could if we really tried. When you work hard to find good deals – I mean really, really, really good deals – you can get a lot of stuff for very little money.
If I don’t write every day, I get out of the habit and have to force myself to get started again.
If I didn’t work out every day that I possibly could, I wouldn’t work out at all. Going to the gym every time I can means it’s not the end of the world when I can’t go one or two days.
If I said I’d floss my teeth three times a week, it would never, ever happen. I floss every day to remind myself to do it the next day.
Whatever the habit you need to form, start doing it every day. Whether you want to or not, whether you have time or not, do it every single day.
There’s a series of commercials on right now for a brand of beer which markets itself with the phrase, “Drinkability.”
Really?
You’re trying to convince me to buy your beer and the best argument you can come up with is that it’s drinkable? Meaning it’s wet and its shape conforms to that of the container it’s placed in? That’s the best you can do?
It reminds me of the fast food company whose slogan is, “You gotta eat.” Meaning that you can’t survive without some caloric intake, and we can provide that caloric intake, so you may as well buy our product.
How moving.
I’m as big a fan of Christmas as anybody, but I fear that Thanksgiving gets inadvertently tossed by the wayside in anticipation of Christmas. In an effort to remedy the situation and bring much-deserved respect back to this esteemed holiday, I propose the following.
- Find a family in need (If you work for a church, this should not be difficult. Like
wise if you attend a church. If you do neither, just pick one and call them to ask for recommendations.). Someone who has recently lost a job, someone with an illness or injury in the family, a recently-divorced single parent, or someone with a home that’s been foreclosed on are all good places to start. Contact that family and find out what needs they have that you can meet. If they need food, provide it. If they need a job, make it your job to help find one. Just do what you’d do if it were your own family. - Buy some solid-color cloth napkins for everyone at your Thanksgiving table, along with paint pens or non-toxic permanent markers. At the beginning of your feast, have everyone write one or two Thankful For items on the napkin. Wash and re-use these same napkins for many Turkey Days to come, adding new items every year. (Can also be done with a plain tablecloth.)
- Tell service workers you encounter that you’re thankful for the work they do, and really mean it – people like teachers, mail carriers, law enforcement, and nurses. This might also be accompanied by an inexpensive gift like cookies, a handwritten note, or a scarf.
- Spend time thinking (alone or with your immediate family) about things you are not thankful for right now, and consider the ways in which they might be repositioned. Remember I Thessalonians 5:18: “Give thanks in all circumstances.” There is something to be thankful for in every situation.
Always up for more suggestions.
