Killing Me Softly
We were in the car yesterday, when a tune I hadn't heard in ages came on the radio. Roberta Flack. Killing Me Softly. I probably would've just hummed along, thinking about something else, if I didn't have a personal history with this song. It was, after all, the very first solo I ever sang in church. Yes, church. It struck me, as I sat there listening, how very progressive it was for the church folks to allow me to sing a secular hit during service. This was 1977ish, for crying out loud. Secular and sacred music didn't really mix, well...ever. I told Kevin that I had sung it in church, and he agreed that it was a little crazy, but not because it was secular. "Why in the world would...
Right at Home
After some July 4th plans had fallen through at the last minute, we found ourselves with a free day and evening, and discovered we were pretty happy about it! We enjoy getting together with other people, certainly, but when presented with a free day and evening to enjoy together, we're rarely disappointed. We decided on a menu, and necessary supplies were purchased. We floated lazily around the pool for a couple of hours, sat on the porch and talked, and made a plan to go see a local fireworks display later on. We finished watching the last segment of The War (WWII), never realizing how perfectly timed it would be to have it wrap up on Independence Day. Then, it started to get dark....
United
I just saw a video of a friend's preschooler saying the Pledge of Allegiance. She sat, wearing a big blue hair bow with her tiny little hand over her heart, and stated the words that so many Americans have memorized to the point of reciting them by rote, without even having to think about it. There was a point in time when I would've watched such a video and thought about how darling she was sitting there. I would've listened to the sound of her tiny voice and the way her little mouth handled certain consonants, knowing that, one day, her mom would be a little sad when she started to pronounce them correctly. I would've gotten tickled at the way she obviously concentrated so hard to...
On Sunsets (and sunset-loving Dads)
At the very highest point of our property, there is a perfect spot to watch the sunset. It was there, last night, that I snapped this, and sent it to my dad. Dad is the world-champion sunset viewer. He's viewed thousands of them, enthralled every single time by the varying shades of coral and wheat and sometimes even purple, against the waning azure sky. Small and concentrated, or wide and sweeping, he loves them all. As I sat up there, praying for him, and my sweet mom (her championship skills lying in the nurturing and care-giving department), I struggled with accepting that they are in their sunset years. Certainly, (and Lord willing) their sun isn't dropping completely, any time...
Blessed Assurance
We attend a non-denominational church whose worship music style is very contemporary, or that to which we like to refer as "rockin'." Yesterday was a particularly wonderful set of music that really struck my heart in a way it hadn't in quite a while. Likely, the problem has not been with the music, but with there being a lot of me and my mess blocking the way. So, as I realized that, it was interesting to me that the thrust of the music, and the sermon topic itself, was about living with regrets. I'm not typically one to live for an extended time with regrets, although I do find myself ruminating on past mistakes a little longer than I should, or becoming fixated on hurts I've...