“Still Alright” – Adam Merrin

I had a nice breakfast today with DJT and his beautiful wife, they were breezing through Colorado on their way home from Arizona. It has been many many years…too many. Starr was able to join us and I think we all had a great time. I know I did. It was good!!

And the Grunty: I am having difficulty focusing, this headache is getting worse. I am having more and more bad days lately which is so flipping frustrating and depressing. I have muttered “Oh my God!!” to myself several times today, so maybe this video is appropriate? I can’t really listen to it today…ouch!…but I do like the song.

“Oh My God” – Ida Maria

And Adam Avitable made me laugh out loud this morning, despite the headache, with this post:

Avitable: Abitablehood of the Traveling Pants

It’s not officially my table, but it has lived with me for the past 16 years and I hope that I can keep it for many more. I love this table.

I believe that this table was hand-made. It has been around for a long time.

It fits me, it fits my space and my heart.

Darn it all. We had a jar full of quarters not long ago. Quarters from the change jar that I keep. However, since Starr started taking my car to school, the jar has emptied. Completely.

Parking on campus takes either quarters or a yearly parking pass. This late in the year coupled with the fact that she doesn’t drive all the time, well we figured that using metered parking was the most economical choice. However, now that the jar is empty, I am having a little trouble refilling it.

I don’t spend as much cash as I used to, so I don’t get any change. I asked at the grocery store. I went to the bank, apparently you have to be a customer. My bank is a credit union, in another state, I do all my banking by mail. It works perfectly, except for what should be a simple matter of getting some quarters. I sent Starr to a local laundromat this morning, but it was closed, moved, vacated, gone.

I have another laundromat in mind to try and possibly the car wash? Will probably try the grocery store again. But I am wondering why this has to be so difficult. Am I missing the obvious?

Starr and I discussed it and we decided that they should have card readers for meters on campus, swipe your student ID, which you can fill with money to draw on. They already have the cards and money accounts set up, you currently can use them at the bookstore, at the food court, even at vending machines on campus. Parking should be a no brainer.

mp3:  “Ship” – Throw Me the Statue
Purpleface
Throw Me the Statue-MySpace

mp3: “Revisited Gone” – QR5
Pharmakon
QR5-MySpace

mp3: “My Maudlin Career” – Camera Obscura
My Maudlin Career
Camera Obscura-MySpace

mp3: “One” – Elizabeth Willis
Elizabeth Willis
Elizabeth Willis-MySpace

mp3: “Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh” – Say Hi
Oohs & Aahs
Say Hi-MySpace

My brother, DJ, called me yesterday afternoon and said something about the power of songs to bring you back to a time or place. Not in those exact words, but then he challenged me with “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.” I think I began answering before he even finished the question….”Bill’s Pizza!”

It is funny how music can sometimes take you, in an instant,  to a place in your past. Young children, a local pizzeria, a well loved jukebox and the coins, given by mom or dad, to choose songs which invariably always  included “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” each and every visit. The smells, the grease, the family time. It is funny that this song carries the same memories for both of us.

As songs hit the radio, or my iPod, I am often confronted with memories. My high school, this party or that, spending time in my room, driving in my car, or later on, memories of past loves, then playing with Starr as a youngster. I love those connections and memories. More recently, music often takes me to Starr and Sunny together…my memories combined with their high school acivities. Our memories together.  It’s both a blessing and  a curse, I don’t ever want to forget the times we had together, but it is also so very painful to remember them. Life is never simple is it? At Bill’s Pizza it was simple, it was fun. I often wish for a day with that innocence and that simplicity again.

Are there songs that bring you back to a certain place or time? What are they? And where do they take you?

Starr is in her second year of college, and has been working on a history major with an emphasis in teaching. She wanted to be a high school teacher, because she loved school and she loved many of her teachers and wanted to be a positive influence on future students. Her additional plan was to get her masters in counseling so that she could be a high school counselor.

Starr, on the right, and her little sister, Sissy. January 2009

Starr, Sunny and Skye approached high school with the attitude that it was up to them to make the most of it. They joined, they participated, they laughed, they got to know the staff, they sang, they volunteered in the community. They achieved their goal.

Since high school, and the accident, Starr has continued to volunteer. In addition to volunteering at the local women’s shelter and starting her own non-profit in Sunny’s memory, she was recently named fundraising chair for her sorority, raising money for their chosen philanthropy.

…and with her little brother, Rocket. Same day.

Over the last few months, an idea has been growing. A change of plans. Instead of teaching, she wants to work in the non-profit field. She wants to help people. She has done some research and feels that her current major path can remain the same, and she will continue to volunteer over the next few years. Though she wants to focus more of her hours into building her experience with the administrative and fundraising functions of the charities.

If I haven’t said it before, she flippin’ rocks my socks! She isn’t perfect, but she has an amazing life view. Her choice to keep living, to keep striving for a meaningful future in the face of tragedy has constantly amazed me. It hasn’t been easy, but she is so determined and sees so clearly why she needs to do the things she does. I wish I had that ability.