To The Bright Side of The Road

Been listening to country music a LOT lately...Why? Dunno. I think on the way home from work I like to imagine the story that they tell...kinda helps me unwind, I guess. The other day I listened to Stevie Ray Vaughn and damn near got killed cause I was so into it. Now the blues...the blues will make you want to "do the speed limit" on the way to work, but the blues will take you away to a place like no other...kinda like listening to some kinda drug, it just "plays on your mind" and relaxes you and just takes you...THERE...just there..."Hey,hey,hey! little sister"

The Blues takes me to Chicago and a bar, having a shot or two with my cousin Vori and "whoever else wants to come" I rarely do shots, but I WOULD, yes, I would if the situation was right and this would be right! And we would be taking a cab home and downing an excedrin before we crashed into bed and it would be late,LATE! And just for good measure,there would be a "ready and waiting" garbage can right next to my "spinning" bed, cuz it would be spinning, yes it would...

Now back to the country...Damn that Trace Adkins! He is the tallest, sexiest drink of cool water that I've ever seen, except for Trace Armstrong-he's a pro football player I met once and THAT man is a mountain and a fine lookin one at that! but ole Trace, he "crushes me" every single time I hear "You're gonna miss this, you're gonna want this back...these are some good times,take a good look around, you may not know it know" I am a blithering idiot by the time the song is done, and just for the hell of it, I play it again and blither some more! But NOW, now,now...he sings a song about fishing with his daughter...he calls her "baby" and sings so sweet to her, "but we're not fishing" Curses! Crumbled again! My dad called me "baby" and, no matter what kinda dad you had, if he ever DID call you baby, it was special and sweet and safe to be that daughter at that special moment...and as I type, I think of Trace and his three daughters that he wrote that song for ,and know why the song is about how much he loves them and NOT about fishing and you got it...I am once again, a blithering idiot!

There are other songs and other types of music that I love, of course! Some make me want to dance-Never left a dance floor feeling quite happy until I did "The Electric Slide" and some songs make me want to sing -Amazing Grace in the shower comes to mind...Hey! it is meant to be sung acapella OR with the Bagpipes, now isn't it? ( please don't challenge me on that one...please, just don't) And some like "Easy Lite Rock" actually help me work and study better...I am somehow less distracted when it is just there, in the background, soft and constant, like a friend.

So, where would I be if I didn't have "the music in me"? Cass Elliot sang it best "You gotta make your own kinda music, sing your own special song, make your own kinda music, even if nobody else sings along" Now, sometime soon we will talk about John Denver...the man could sing about life...was he really a folk singer? Who knows? But lyrics and melody were never more true then when he sang them...and was Jimmy Buffet a country singer? He tried to be, but he became his own genre; unmistakable, take me away to the beach and Margaritaville. “Bubbles Up”

Though the singer is silent, there is still the truth of the song"

Why is thus we are here and so soon we are gone?

I pledge allegiance to the flag!

Good morning Vietnam! A movie that Robin Wiliams was in a looong time ago...About soldiers...US Soldiers...Did we forget them then and do we forget them now? What do you think? Unless we are directly affected by someone we know who is a soldier, do we just go about our days and forget what they DO for us each day? right or wrong, they do their jobs to keep ALL Americans safe and sound...But are they safe and sound? hell no... Today I get my first name and I am excited like a little kid! I volunteered to be part of the LWT (letter writing team) for Soldiers Angels. I joined for lifetime and so they say I am one of them...WHO is the angel though? Me or the soldier? At mail call, it is just like any other war in the past, there are some who get NO letters, ever..."Snail mail" is still important to them. Do you know they carry the letters from home with them and keep them in their pockets? Just like any other war, or are we supposed to call this a war or a military action, like Vietnam was?

I am NOT political. To me the vast majority of polititians are crooks, BUT they are the leaders of the greatest nation in the world. I was raised to respect them and when I was a little girl, I pledged my allegiance everyday! And it stuck with me. My dad and grandpa both were in the war...World War I or II...who cares which, they went and fought for our freedom and don't forget, they also fought for the freedom of those in the world who could not fight for themselves...Why do you think we are in so many countries? To spy on them? No, to serve them and us...Us! spelled US...United States.

I never had a son...prayed for one for years, but He said no, until now...I have no "sons" in law or grandsons. And so, a light switched on when I was at a meeting at work and they talked about Volunteerism and different things we could do-I was very involved in the fight against cancer for a time...family and friends were afflicted by it and I would do anything for them. They suggested becoming pen pals with prisoners...Usually quiet in staff meetings, I blurted out " I'd write to a soldier, but NOT to some prisoner" And so, that started it, the whole thing.  no Big Deal if you volunteer for what afflicts you and those you love. Even the most evil will protect their own and I am properly scared straight enough, thank you very much, and I don't want to be pen pals with no big, hulking, tatooed kinda guys. But wait a minute! What if that big, hulking, tatooed guy was a U S Soldier? Now we're talking, or shall I say, "Now we're writing?" I don't know anyone close who is a soldier, just as well...they don't need a patriot! THEY are the patriots! They need a "mom" back at home to send the news about what's going on here. They are the "sons" I never had, and though I will never meet them, I will serve them proudly on paper! And so the adventure begins! I may have to start a whole new blog about them...Wouldn't that be awesome?

And I'm proud to be an American...