With the busy schedule I have had, I am way behind on personal posts. I will try to get out my next few posts to get those all caught up on my life over the last month. ( I am sure I am not the only one that has been extremely busy but…)
The Boston Marathon on April 17th. My wife ran again and finished in 3:44:11, which is 2 minutes and 35 seconds faster than her time in 2016. She was on pace for 3:29 at the half way point but the heat caught up to her. She did an amazing job and qualified to run again in 2018. Way to go Kim!
We did not go with her this time to try and save money so no new pictures. (Here are pictures from last year The Boston Marathon- The Race and The Boston Marathon – The Trip .) She met up with one of her good friends from Florida and they had a girls weekend together.
While she was gone, Kylie and I had a daddy-daughter date night. While the cat is away, the mice do not eat healthy. Kylie had the sampler appetizer and I had the Boston Lager burger, in honor of the Boston Marathon of course.
After dinner, we had to stop at Kroger and grab us some ice cream. Yum Yum!
The character in this poem leaves to find himself, but in reality, it could be about each and every one of us who have “checked out” of their marriage. Those who are there but are not there. Don’t think they will always be there waiting for you to come back.
It could be for you, my readers, since I have not posted in a month. Has it really been that long? I never meant for it to be that long but sometimes I get caught in a tornado and I wait to land in OZ.
I remember the first time I saw her. Standing all alone in the water. I stood in awe at how beautiful she was. A true work of art. It was love at first sight.
It was our first vacation together to the beach. Our first of many.
I remember the first time I walked out on her, I stood so far out into the ocean. The beach looked so far away. I was so far out all the people on the beach looked like ants.
I learned all about her. From the beginning when she was first being made until now. All the storms she had been through, everything that made her into the beauty she is today. I couldn’t help but wonder if other people looked at her the way I did.
How many sunrises and sunsets have we seen from that pier? How many long talks have we had walking the beaches and that pier while holding hands?
Every year, before we would go back, I would look at the old photos of us taken on that pier. The first one taken when we’re just dating, the first one taken as a married couple, the first one with our daughter as a baby and all the ones through the years as she, and we, grew older.
Throughout the years, I always knew the pier would be there when we were. The times when we would walk early in the morning and the fog was so thick we could barely see our hands in front of our face. But somehow, I knew the next step would land on the next plank. On the dark nights when we could not see the end of the pier because of the darkness, I still knew it was there.
Then I looked at the last picture, the one from last year. The pier was showing her age but she was still so beautiful to me. Our daughter had grown so strong and beautiful, ready to go out on her own. There was something off about the picture though. There was a light missing from your eyes. Maybe the smile wasn’t as big as years past.
Maybe it was just my imagination. I couldn’t get the thought out of my head.
Do you believe in coincidences? As I was staring at the picture there was a breaking news alert. The hurricane hit the pier and she was gone. I couldn’t believe it. All those years of storms and sunshine, cold winter nights and hot summer days, all the things the pier had been through and now she was gone.
A tear came to my eyes as I stared In disbelief. Was it real or was I dreaming? Was she really gone? All these pictures, all the memories, all of it gone. No, they were still there but as I looked at the empty space in the ocean I knew things would never be the same.
I couldn’t help but look at the last picture again. The one where the light in your eyes was gone and your smile wasn’t as big. All the storms we have faced and survived. All the good days and the bad days. I couldn’t help shake the feeling that a storm was coming. A storm bigger than we have ever faced before.
No new musician follower this week. Take a listen, find some new music to listen to. Please feel free to share/purchase the song I wrote the lyrics to, Lily Messer is the voice and Ceylon Wise is the producer.
Thanks for all the follows, musicians and non-musicians. Some other music from non-followers I have listened to recently. Pick out a few you haven’t heard and take a listen.
Alison Krauss:
River In The Rain
You Don’t Know Me –
Andrew McMahon:
Shot Out Of A Cannon
Walking In My Sleep
Island Radio
Birthday Song-
Blackie & The Rodeo Kings:
Beautiful Scars
Bury My Heart
Long Walk To Freedom
Land Of The Living-
Brantley Gilbert:
The Ones That Like Me
The Weekend
Bro Code
Tried To Tell Ya
Way Back-
Brett Eldredge:
Phone Call To God –
Brooke Eden :
American Dreamer
Diamonds-
CeCe Winans:
He’s Never Failed Me Yet
Dancing In The Spirit
Lowly
Let Them Fall In Love –
Charlie Wilson:
In It To Win It
Better
Made For Love
I’m Blessed
Amazing God –
Delbert McClinton:
Pulling The Strings
Bad Haircut
Rosy-
Dierks Bentley:
Days Of Dark –
Elbow:
Little Fictions
Magnificent (She Says) –
Ellie Holcomb:
Wonderfully Made
You Love Me Best
You Are Loved
Find You Here –
Jake Clemons:
Hold Tight
Janine
Shadow
Just Stay
Fear & Love –
Jean Watson:
Wonder –
Kari Jobe:
The Garden
Let Your Glory Fall
Lover Of My Soul
Heal Our Land
Fall Afresh
Closer To Your Heart
Oh The Power
The Cause Of Christ
I Will Sing
Speak To Me –
Lauren Alaina:
Holding The Other
Pretty
Three
Road Less Traveled –
LeAnn Rimes:
Mother
I Couldn’t Do That To Me-
Little Big Town:
Beat Up Bible
Better Man
When Someone Stops Loving You –
Lupe Fiasco:
Pick Up The Phone –
Muna:
So Special
I Know A Place
Promise
Everything
If U Love Me Now –
Old 97’s:
I Don’t Wanna Die In This Town
All Who Wander
Those Were The Days-
Reba McEntire:
Sing It Now
From The Inside Out
Say A Prayer
There Is A God
Back To God –
Ryan Adams:
Breakdown
Outbound Train
Do You Still Love Me? –
Starset:
Die For You
Ricochet
Satellite
Unbecoming
Last To Fall
Bringing It Down
Monster –
Tim McGraw & Faith Hill:
Keep Your Eyes On Me –
We Are Messengers:
I’ll Think About You-
Zach Williams :
So Good To Me
Fear Is A Liar
To The Table –
and our song:
I Question You by Lily Messer –
On Itunes : https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/i-question-you-single/id1018588943
(image credit: Mari Jones from Journey of a Million Miles)
“Oh, hello there. My name is Rodney. It’s nice to see you. I don’t get many visitors. Most people see the mask and think I am bad. I must tell you, I am not! At least most of the time. I am honest if nothing else. My mom always told me honesty is the best policy.”
“Come on down and have a sit. I don’t have rabies or anything. My uncle Phil had rabies but he is long gone. Only one in the family to get rabies but everyone usually thinks we are all rabid. It’s like your family. I bet you have one bad apple in that tree. Does everyone think you are bad because of them?”
“Let me tell you something else. We eat a lot of different things from pesky insects and small rodents to fruits and…
Been a few weeks but trying to get back on schedule. (It’s Monday, not Friday in case you were confused)
Two new musician follower this week. Take a listen, find some new music to listen to. Please feel free to share/purchase the song I wrote the lyrics to, Lily Messer is the voice and Ceylon Wise is the producer. If interested in teaming up together, feel free to contact me.
It’s On You by Matt Gary –
Hope Is Found by John Cox –
Thanks for all the follows, musicians and non-musicians. Some other music from non-followers I have listened to recently. Pick out a few you haven’t heard and take a listen.
AFI:
Still A Stranger
Hidden Knives
Get Hurt
She Speaks The Language
The Wind That Carries Me Away –
Alex Clare:
Tell Me What You Need
Get Real
Basic
Love Can Heal –
Alexis Taylor –
Blame It On The Whiskey
Southern Boy –
Amanda Shires –
Pale Fire
My Love (The Storm) –
Boyce Avenue:
Anchor
Cinderella
Family
Given Up
Imperfect Me
Pick Yourelf Back Up Again
Be Somebody –
Brantley Gilbert:
The Devil Don’t Sleep
In My Head
Baby Be Crazy
Outlaw In Me –
Chris Quilala:
Reign
Won My Heart –
Claudia Hoyser:
Bittersweet Fairytale
Free-
Danny Gokey:
If You Ain’t In It
Stronger Than We Think
Symptoms
Rise
Never Be The Same
The Comeback
Better Than I Found It-
Dropkick Murphys:
Blood
First Class Loser
Paying My Way
You’ll Never Walk Alone
Until The Next Time
Sandlot-
Fight The Fade:
Elevation
Inhale
Invincible
Lanterns In The Dark
Seasons
Falling –
The Guardians:
Leaning
Hold On To The Power Of The Cross
Present In The Presence Of The King
Please Don’t Wait Forever
Another Life To Give
What A Day That Will Be –
In Flames:
The Truth
In My Room
Before I Fall
Us Against The World
Underneath My Skin
Battles
Like Sand –
Janelle Monae:
Isn’t This The World –
Joyve Manor:
Last You Heard Of Me
Over Before It Began –
Kehlani:
Advice
Thank You –
Kim Burrell and Pharrell Williams:
I See A Victory –
Lucie Silvas :
Breathe In
Villian
Letter To Ghosts –
Luke Bryan:
Love Me In A Field
Southern Gentleman
You Look Like Rain
Here’s To The Farmer –
Mari Burelle:
I Believe In Jesus
Made To Love
You Gotta Stand –
Mary J Blige:
Mirage –
Micah Tyler:
Even Then
Last
Never Been A Moment –
Newton Faulkner:
Soon
Brick By Brick
Clouds
Long Shot
Against The Grain
Pick Up Your Broken Heart –
Nina Diaz:
January 9th
Screaming Without A Sound –
One Less Reason:
On The Way Down
Something Beautiful
Time
The Trade
Where Were You
You Didn’t Know
Break Me –
Rebecca Ferguson:
Superwoman
Pay For It
Oceans
I’ll Meet You There –
The Rubyz:
I’ll Follow You
Breathtakingly Beautiful –
Taylor Noelle:
Won’t Waste My Time-
Tom Chaplin:
Hardened Heart
I Remember You
Hold On To Our Love
The Wave –
Train:
Drink Up
Working Girl
Silver Dollar
What Good Is Saturday
Lost And Found
You Better Believe –
The XX:
A Violent Noise
On Hold –
and our song:
I Question You by Lily Messer –
On Itunes : https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/i-question-you-single/id1018588943
The signs of spring are here. Spring training baseball, Nascar had its first race yesterday, people are talking about March Madness, and we had five blue jays in our yard yesterday. That is good news for us that do not like winter, but that is not good news that changes people or the world like the following stories.
Alyssa Kamm thought she had more than two years to plan her wedding. But she found her prep time cut to three weeks after learning her father had cancer.
The abbreviated schedule came courtesy of more than a dozen strangers, business owners and managers throughout Rochester, New York, who donated flowers, a venue, photography, music and numerous other services to help give the bride and her groom their dream wedding on Feb. 4.
Just three weeks earlier, on Jan. 13, Alyssa learned her dad had been diagnosed with advanced multiple myeloma, which affects the bone marrow and quickly weakens the bones. Her dad began chemotherapy treatment immediately.
One of the women shared her family’s story and sought advice about nice but inexpensive venues and services on a Facebook page for Rochester-area wedding vendors.
“It touched my heart and I knew I wanted to be a part of this,” she told TODAY. She immediately began messaging with a good friend of hers who is a DJ and the two “started chatting about who we needed to ‘tag’ in the post and how we could really make this happen for Alyssa and her family.”
Colburn, who donated a full wedding photography package, said she was excited to see the event come together so effortlessly.
“We are surrounded by negativity and sad stories and sometimes it’s easy to forget that there are still good people in the world,” said Colburn, who hopes vendors in other cities “continue to spread the love” by helping others in need.
Alyssa’s dad, Karl Jones, 55, said he was amazed at how so many people he didn’t know coalesced to help his family.
“All the vendors — we call them our fairy god dream team. They didn’t know us, and they just started offering their services and the ball kept on rolling. It shocked me,” he said.
“This is something that makes him happy, to let people know that there are good people in the world we live in,” she said. “This story, even though it’s rooted in something that’s really sad, and it stings for us, it has such a happy ending, and that gives him something to live for.”
source: Eun Kyung Kim -TODAY
February 3 was a big night in Norman, Oklahoma. The Norman High School Lady Tigers basketball team was facing its rival, the Timberwolves of Norman North. By the end of the fourth quarter, the Lady Tigers had a comfortable lead of 57-35 — for all intents and purposes, they had won the game.
But when the coaches sent in one player who had sat on the sidelines all night, everyone in the arena shared a victory.
That player was Lainy Fredrickson — a special-needs senior whose epic basket at the game’s close had the crowd (and the internet) going wild. Detrick Watts, a special education TA and assistant girls’ basketball coach, told TODAY that having Fredrickson on the team is “a blessing.”
“She always puts a smile on everybody’s face,” he said. “You know your day is going to be better just from coming into contact with her.”
“As coaches, you try not to show your emotions, especially during the game,” said Watts. “But the reality sets in that this is something more than basketball … it’s fulfilling a dream. For the coaches, and I think for the players, it’s something I’ll never forget.”
It made a similar impression on Michael Vanderburg, the alum who took the video. “It is a testimony to the awesome community of Norman, Oklahoma, and my alma mater Norman High School, and how there is still hope for humanity out here in this world,” he told TODAY. “If we just focus on the good instead of the bad, we could come together and really make a difference.”
source: Embry Roberts – TODAY
When Todd Steinkamp was told that his car wouldn’t make it all the way to a Wisconsin funeral he wanted to attend, he believed it was the beginning of a terrible day—but he hadn’t yet met the man who would turn it around.
The driver was forced to pull his vehicle into the closest auto repair shop after it started making a dreadful grinding sound midway through his route from Iowa.
The mechanic, Glenn Geib, told Todd that his car would not be able to travel the remaining 70-mile distance to the memorial service.
Things looked bleak, but after seeing Todd’s reaction, Glenn offered up his own wheels as a substitute.
“I must have looked pretty stressed-out at this time because Glenn then reached into his pocket, pulled out the keys to HIS own vehicle and said ‘Take my truck. Fill it up with gas, don’t turn on the emergency lights and get going’,” wrote Todd on Facebook.
Not only was the younger man able to make it to his funeral, but his would-be terrible day was totally turned around.
“We sat and talked for a while when I got back as I thanked him and he told me more about himself. The 74 year-old mechanic with a grip of steel turned a terrible day into a good one with a great lesson… ‘just be kind and help if you can’.”
source : McKinley Corbley – Good News Network
A waitress who did a good deed for a pair of firefighters was overwhelmed when they returned the favor—for her father.
Instead of a bill for their breakfast, Liz Woodward brought a pair of New Jersey firefighters a thank you note. They’d just spent 24 hours battling the blaze at a local warehouse, and the waitress wanted to do something nice for them.
“Your breakfast is on me today,” the note read, along with little drawings of a fire ax and helmet. “Thank you for all that you do.”
Firefighter Tim Young posted the story and a photo of the note to Facebook, urging people to eat at the diner where she worked. But then, he found out the waitress had a GoFundMe campaign that she was using to raise $17,000 to buy her father a wheelchair-accessible van.
Turns out, the young lady who gave us a free meal is really the one that could use the help,” Young wrote in another post.
The firefighter’s plea spread like wildfire. His posts were shared thousands of times and 1,000 people donated more than $67,000 — $50,000 above her goal.
“This is just one example of how so many people in this world have incredible hearts and they pay it forward, so the circle keeps on moving,” Woodward told TODAY.
source: Terry Turner – Good News Network
Of course, there are much, much more but did not want to get this into 2000 words so hopefully, other bloggers joined in today to give us more #goodnews stories.
Check out www.goodnewsnetwork.org, www.huffingtonpost.com/section/good–news, www.sunnyskyz.com/good–news, www.today.com/news/good–news, https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/good-news, abcnews.go.com/US/Good_News as well as many others.
It has been awhile since I did one and was thinking we are due.
However, let’s do it together on Monday 2/27. That will give you all weekend to search the internet, magazines, newspapers, news – yeah good luck finding good news stories there.
Then on Monday let’s all post good news stories. Let’s #goodnews and send it out to the blogging world and maybe someone will take notice.
My God, My Music, My Life 