Remember

Today I look at this weekend as a good time to get some much needed "R & R," hang out by the pool with friends, no work - good times - Memorial Day Weekend! Over the years I have done many different things on Memorial Day weekend. I have spent time camping, I've been on the lake, or just went to Barbeques. No matter what the venue the weather has usually gotten just about right to have a great time with friends and family this time of year. However, while having all these memories of good times, I also remember going with my Grandmother and her brothers and sisters to all the cemeteries around Dawson Springs placing flowers and flags at the gravesites of loved ones…remembering. That memory reminds me of the real reason for this national holiday. To remember…


So today I pay my silent respect to those that have passed through this world and went on to the next. I am today thankful for the members of my family that served our great country in times of war and in times of peace. Not because they were asked to, but because it was the right thing to do. Today I think back on stories of World War I, World War II, and I think of the Civil War and the Revolution that created our remarkable country. As I think of all of these crises' I am reminded that it was not the President's or the Congress who presided over these wars that won them. It was the courageous and diligent men and women who fought in the fields and trenches. They are the arms of the body that won these battles. The son's of a million mothers, the subject of many silent prayers that brought us to where we stand today. I remember…

In air and on the seas, in the sands of the desert, in the wooded mountains and in the plains the men and women who served; and those veterans that have already served have given us a gift that we will be forever indebted to them for. Their efforts to preserve the freedom and liberty that we experience daily have made them the stewards of what the Pilgrims set sail to find - freedom.

Today I will think long on my Grandfather, Decola Franklin, who served in World War II on a Mine Sweep, in the South Pacific. I will be thankful for him and his service, not just today will I remember him but always - and we never met. I will also think of my Great Uncle Garland Witherspoon, who dug fox holes in the fields while serving in the Infantry for the United States Army, in that same war. I will remember him too so long as I live and during these years I will be thankful for his service. My Step-Grandfather Buddy Cato - I will think of him too. Buddy served on the Leary, a Battleship in the South Pacific during World War II as well. These are only a few of the men that I have been linked with that put themselves in harm's way to protect our covenant to something greater. These men are no longer around but they are remembered and memorialized here.

I am thankful that my Papaw, Edward E. Storms, is alive and well today. He served as a career soldier in the United State Army. He served in the Korean War, the Vietnam War and in times of peace as well, over a twenty five year span. I am thankful for him as well as my Great Uncle, Joe Russell, a veteran of the Korean War as well. Both men that I know and have known to be good family men that now remind me of what it is to live well and for the right causes. Both patriarchs of families that carry on in their paths. I am always thankful for them and I will always remember why. On this Memorial Day weekend I remember and I always will that what we hold dear has came at a great cost over the years.

Today not only the men and women of our Armed forces are remembered. It is also hard not to think of all those family members that no longer grace us with their presence. Those family members and friends that are no longer with us are remembered and missed in their own respect. These people are thought too and like our veterans and active service men and women it should not be only on these occasions that we bring light to their lives and their accomplishments. Today and always I will remember the great members of my family and the wonderful friends who have made the road I travel an easier path because of their influence and kindness. Today and always I remember them because they were worth being remembered. I will remember them because I loved them. I loved them then and love them still and I will continue to remember…

Note: Enjoy your Memorial Day weekend.
        All my best,
        Jonathon

A Change Will Do You Good

The aspects of change shake our core as we evaluate the norm and begin to step outside the box. I think that it is important to change and evolve and to learn and grow. So long as these changes are improvements. Holding steadfast to what we started with and where we are going - we change many times and in many ways over the course of our lives. These changes are the steps we take to become the person we are - the perception and persona that we give to the world each day.


Change can be as easy as changing the sheets or changing your clothes. What would be harder would be instead of just changing the sheets - rearranging the room. To go along with that same thought instead of changing clothes to change your entire wardrobe - but that could get costly. What could be some positive changes that will lead to better days in the future? Here we go:

Cut out complaining, it gets you know where and it brings down moral. A better option being to grin and bear what comes your way and do your best to avoid the things that bring you cause for complaint.

Another example would be to be frugal. In this economy why not cut back? Get the necessities and form your budget to your needs on the basis of your home, car, food, and recreation. This can be hard too - but very rewarding.

Wait a minute…what am I doing here? Am I trying to give people examples of ways to change things up? You all know what to do - we all do. The problem is that we get so complacent in situations and habits that we resist change because of the effort it will take to switch things around. An alternative thought should be that change will inspire you to do more things for yourself and positive changes will improve your life and happiness.

I know what you are thinking already: "What a load of junk!" You may be right. But if you are feeling a little bored or boring, if you feel like you need a little nudge in the right direction. Start small and test your strength at changing things ups. You'll be surprised at how easy it is and how happy you will be about your improvements.

What are you watching?

What happens when the "talking heads" don't know what they are talking about?


I find myself asking this question a lot as our nation is fed from a twenty four hour news feed. As we all know people make mistakes sometimes. I am often torn between being in the "know" and being bombarded by the constant poking and prodding of the same issue over and over. My guess is that the squeaky wheel always gets the grease and the redundancies provided by our news media provide most of the squeaking. Maybe all the squeaks will get some of the grease cleaned out of the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic. Maybe their squeaks will fix the economic status of our country, maybe the news media will bring light to the right issues and ignore the things that have no bearing on the issues of the day. Maybe…or maybe not.

Regardless of what they do it is our job to know as viewers that we tell them what to do. Every morning, evening or all day long, the channel that we stay tuned to, in an effort to hear what's going on in the world, becomes a part of a national statistic. These statistics provide the news media with the answers to the question of the day - are they watching? Are they consistent viewers, are they staying tuned or switching around?

Please know that I respect the work of our journalist and the news media as a professional whole. These are the men and women that come into our homes to tell us the good news and the bad. These are men and women like you and me that decided on a profession and have excelled in that profession. This group of professionals have became the watch dogs of our government, this group has kept us well informed about what's going on in our country and abroad. In times of crisis and tragedy we become very close to news anchors and personalities as they share breaking news in ways that only they can. This is such a needed service that I feel very uncomfortable critiquing their daily procedures.

However, the networks that produce propaganda, that stomp around on the issues of the day with nonsensical chatter, and quite frankly turn certain new outlets and stories into a tabloid, never get turned on at my house. I make a conscious effort to watch and read things that I feel comfortable with as well as well informed by - that's just me.

Laugh it's Funny

Sometimes when the door slams in your face you may want to escape through the window…but not so fast! You're just having a bad day, sleep it off and keep your head held high tomorrow…you're going to shine. Remember Auntie Mame singing: "Open a new window, Open a new door?"


That's a thought. Shift gears, change your pace, turn the radio on to some good tunes and hit the road. Life is out there just around the corner, a life that is just for you…so hang in there! Little Orphan Annie sang: "The sun will come out tomorrow." Kermit sang about Dreamers and Lovers in: "The rainbow connection."

My question is, why is that most of these uplifting songs are geared for children? Adults need inspiration too! Here is what I will pledge, an offering that I feel compelled to give - and if you notice that I am not holding up my end of the bargain, let me know. This is important!

I am going to smile and put my best foot forward every day.

I am going to reach out to those around me so that they know that my friendship and relationship means something.

I am going to reach out to my community to make it even zanier than it already is.

I'll try not to be boring and I'll try to have some fun.

You get the point…right? So this may not be one of my most intellectual blogs and it may not touch on anything that was written in the stars or some fact that was desperately waiting to be uncovered. However, today I want to release a few words to let you all know that it is so important to be happy. It is so important to find those laughable days - days that everything seems to be funny. It's okay to change things up and have fun. Lend your time to the life that is yours and to improving the precious time that we have each day. I think that all too often we become jaded, bogged down or even burned out. Find a way to escape those destinations and look for the sunny side. Place yourself in the life that you wanted not the life that you feared. If you should not remember the way back to the sunny side, if your forgot the way…I'll be here.             Maybe we can find it together!

The Land That Didn't Get Away

When I was growing up our back yard ended where the forest began. There so many things for young children to see and do in the forest. Deep in the "woods," as we referred to it, there was a pond surround by trees and filled with fish - often me and my friends would see people fishing there and we fished there a lot too. There were a several creeks and streams that slithered through that forest and we had many good times in and around those too. Among those streams we found small waterfalls, snakes, frogs and all sorts of creatures. In that forest was also a pine thicket that was hard to wade through but if you reached its center there was the perfect pine to climb in for a great vantage point.


As boys me and my friends became amazed on many days by what we saw out there in those woods. We were often too loud to co-exist too comfortably with the creatures that called those woods home but we knew they were there. That forest was like a biology book right outside my back door.

My friends and I would challenge ourselves to walk farther, explore more, walk until we walked out of those woods. When we made it out of the woods we would go home that day knowing more about them. We would then have cooler destinations to go back to and re-examine. We built club houses out of old junk all around those hills and hollows. Those projects always lead to dragging junk from one side of the forest to another in an effort to have the perfect stuff in these hide outs.

I remember once we found an area out there where water came out from the ground and flowed from there throughout the rest of the woods. We didn't know it then but that was a natural spring and it was a haven for crawfish - which we all referred to as craw-dads. We wasted many hours there trying to catch some of those little critters, with little success.

Among all my memories of that forest one of the most beautiful places that I ever saw there and have seen few places since that were more breath taking - was a Beech Nut grove that towered over a bed of ferns. We found it by accident actually, me and two of my best friends were pilfering about looking for things to drag back to one of our clubs. Talking about life as we knew it then, explaining to one another the unexplainable - we seemed to have all the answers. That day we wandered farther than we ever had and when we reached this shady grove we were amazed to see a sea of green wood ferns blanketing at least a fifty yard circle of land. Popping up ever few yards from the ferns were some of the largest and most beautiful Beech Nut trees that I ever saw. Trees that seemed perfect to carve a heart in with yours and your favorite girls name. It was such a neat place that even then we stopped and just looked at it. Like my Nannie's carpet we looked at it and walked around. Even a few rough young boys knew that this was much too nice to trample. That was a place that we all made our way back to many times, often sitting on a stump or climbing a nearby tree to sit in and talk.

Last week I watched a news program that involved an Austin neighborhood association that was purchasing land adjacent to their properties and donating it to conservation. This being an effort to preserve some land that has not been developed for future generations of home owners to gain from the beauty of this natural habitat. I sat amazed and pleased by these families efforts to keep the land surrounding their properties undeveloped and rugged. Knowing the benefits that they and their children stand to gain from this big biology lesson right in their back yards. I don't think that they will ever stumble on a grove of Beech Nut trees or a blanket of ferns here in Central Texas; the climate is just not conducive for those types of plants. Regardless of what they find, it will be beautiful in its own right. What they will see in those fields and forest will be worth more than making a few bucks on them. I think in the long run we will see that we take the high road when we decide not to "pave paradise to put up a parking lot" (sang by Joni Mitchell).

There were countless lessons that I learned in those woods behind my house growing up. There were things that are still etched in my mind that I saw there. Dogwoods dotting the high and low spots, the fallen trees that made for perfect bridges for those beautiful streams, the "Crawdad hole," the pond, and the Beech Nut grove. Every turtle, all the snakes, all the fish and frogs that we snuck up on. The valuable lessons that we learned out there cannot be taught from a book - all of this we saw firsthand. I like it when I hear about great things like this happening on the news. It is good to know that there is still a whole lot of goodness out there…and we don't always have to look that far to see it!

This Costly Liberty

Memories of the thoughts we didn't think - but thoughts we loved and engaged in if only for a time. I wonder if Jackie O, or Ethel, or Corretta Scott King - if any of these three would have traded it all in, for life, love and longevity? Would they trade the movement for that? I guess it is reasonable to think is that they probably would have. Those three probably revisited those days over and over in their minds as helplessly as a it could only be. When there was really no true remedy to that anguish. The only solace have could come in the thought that fate plays a role that we cannot tweak. But we already know that? After all no one lives forever… right? But they do!


History brings so much to our table, so much to gain and learn from. For every war there is a victory and for every tale there is a hero. Unfortunately there are also great losses for every war and every great hero does not make it to the other side of the river to tell the stories of the journey. I can imagine that Mrs. Lincoln had wished she had never heard the words Civil War or Ford's Theater. Her place in history is also stained by tragedy.

Washington survived scurvy, and many years of his life were spent in battle. FDR presided over the Great Depression and World War II from a wheel chair. To think that this is just recent history - what about Julius Caesar, Jesus, Socrates? What plagues the inspirers of thought and thinkers is the ideas that are not popular yet. The praises that are not yet sung but soon will be. The things that we are most interested in but too afraid of to bring light to.

Scarves and big dark classes, glamour galore, money and friends could not separate Mrs. Onasis from a day in Dallas, not ever. Mrs. Kennedy and Mrs. King also felt the shock and pain that Mary Todd Lincoln became overwhelmed by. Their children and those after that will be linked for the ages - just as Jonathan said to David in the book of Samuel: There will be a bond between us and our descendants forever (paraphrased).

Their humble offering being that of peace, love and forbidding acceptance left them to be slain by those that didn't accept it. The irony of history is the separation between the rewards we reap and those that were in the fields to harvest those rewards. The few men and women that carry the torch so high and strongly that the fire can never go out.

I call out to you the widows of these men that sleep now and some of you sleep beside them. if only to say thank you for your heroism too. For carrying those feelings of fear and unrest but not allowing them to take your life with them. I thank you for pushing on with causes and courage that took us all places that we didn't know we would go. With that thanks comes the honor of your own legacies, like Mary the mother of Jesus, ladies we will not forget you either. Your smiles, and faces go on to pages and places that will be seen by all those that will continue to benefit from what you saw fit to give your life to. Your time and effort, your love and foresight, your life's work, we have benefitted from too. History knows your names because of a collected gratefulness for your being.

And to think this came into my mind because of a song…Abraham, Martin and John.

Time

With work, vacation, a class reunion, volunteer responsibilities, friends, family, and lest we forget kickball - I am a busy man. I seem to ask myself the question daily if there are enough hours in the day to complete all the task that I need to finish. I have always said that I like to be busy, and busy is what I am.


Needless to say the things that I am currently involved in not only give me the opportunity to work, play and spend time with some really great people. They also accomplish some pretty neat stuff. From the beginning of my life I wanted to be involved and ready for what came my way, and it seems that now whether or not I am ready…plenty of things are coming my way.

At the beginning of the month I spent a few days in the enchanting city of New Orleans. While I was there I spoke to my Papaw on the phone to wish him a happy eightieth birthday. The two of us compared travels, his list was obviously larger than mine, but we both shared the love of the world and life's opportunities. As I meandered through the streets of the French Quarter talking to him I connected with the idea that life is a wonderful thing. Sometimes like the candle that tilts to one side and wax drips off on to the floor - people and places make their mark on us and equally so, we are given the chance to make our own mark on them.

In July, I will reunite with my classmates from Dawson Springs High School after ten years. Finding them on Facebook, and finding their addresses - reacquainting myself with a group of people that I knew so well for so many years - proved to be enjoyable in and of itself. But the true enjoyment comes in getting to spend time with these friends. People that share the same years and memories, of classrooms and milestones. Like the Dandelion that burst into the wind, a hundred parts, and only those knew how it was to be a part of the whole. I am reminded that it is always important to go home, to regroup, recap, and rejuvenate.

As the days fly by and projects come and go I am always eager to put in my time here and there to be a part of something that is bigger than just me. I think we all know that the value of the volunteer is in the money that is saved and the time that is gained from those with true affection for their respective causes. We all understand the idea that a valuable employee is not only there to get his job done, but also there to help those on his team complete their task if needed.

Furthermore, we should all appreciate those friends and family members that are always there - without fail - either to lean on, to laugh with, to cry with, share, love and live with. Those are people we want in our corners.

Whether it is in the time that we spend on volunteer projects, with our friends and family, vacation or work, or even kickball - time is valuable. And as my Aunt Judy says: "Sometimes all we have to give is our time."

Time is so valuable - I know because I have taken a lot of other peoples time over the years. However, I hope to have given my fair share in return. It is a good lesson we learn when we begin to understand that our time is worth more than dollars and cents. It leads us to the knowledge that we as individuals are valuable, indispensible, and needed - if only to just one or two. These conclusion bring meaning to our lives…and that's crucial!

Time

With work, vacation, a class reunion, volunteer responsibilities, friends, family, and lest we forget kickball - I am a busy man. I seem to ask myself the question daily if there are enough hours in the day to complete all the task that I need to finish. I have always said that I like to be busy, and busy is what I am.

Needless to say the things that I am currently involved in not only give me the opportunity to work, play and spend time with some really great people. They also accomplish some pretty neat stuff. From the beginning of my life I wanted to be involved and ready for what came my way, and it seems that now whether or not I am ready…plenty of things are coming my way.

At the beginning of the month I spent a few days in the enchanting city of New Orleans. While I was there I spoke to my Papaw on the phone to wish him a happy eightieth birthday. The two of us compared travels, his list was obviously larger than mine, but we both shared the love of the world and life's opportunities. As I meandered through the streets of the French Quarter talking to him I connected with the idea that life is a wonderful thing. Sometimes like the candle that tilts to one side and wax drips off on to the floor - people and places make their mark on us and equally so, we are given the chance to make our own mark on them.

In July, I will reunite with my classmates from Dawson Springs High School after ten years. Finding them on Facebook, and finding their addresses - reacquainting myself with a group of people that I knew so well for so many years - proved to be enjoyable in and of itself. But the true enjoyment comes in getting to spend time with these friends. People that share the same years and memories, of classrooms and milestones. Like the Dandelion that burst into the wind, a hundred parts, and only those knew how it was to be a part of the whole. I am reminded that it is always important to go home, to regroup, recap, and rejuvenate.

As the days fly by and projects come and go I am always eager to put in my time here and there to be a part of something that is bigger than just me. I think we all know that the value of the volunteer is in the money that is saved and the time that is gained from those with true affection for their respective causes. We all understand the idea that a valuable employee is not only there to get his job done, but also there to help those on his team complete their task if needed.

Furthermore, we should all appreciate those friends and family members that are always there - without fail - either to lean on, to laugh with, to cry with, share, love and live with. Those are people we want in our corners.

Whether it is in the time that we spend on volunteer projects, with our friends and family, vacation or work, or even kickball - time is valuable. And as my Aunt Judy says: "Sometimes all we have to give is our time."

Time is so valuable - I know because I have taken a lot of other peoples time over the years. However, I hope to have given my fair share in return. It is a good lesson we learn when we begin to understand that our time is worth more than dollars and cents. It leads us to the knowledge that we as individuals are valuable, indispensible, and needed - if only to just one or two. These conclusion bring meaning to our lives…and that's crucial!

Nashville

As so many of you already know Nashville is one of my former homes. Ties to Music City are very strong for me, as it was the city in which I got my start professionally. A vivacious and beautiful place in our country of which I will always feel ties to. A city that still hosts many, many friends and a few close family members. Recently, Nashville has been struck by rains and flood waters that have left many of their residents, businesses, churches and most famous music venues destroyed, displaced, and disrupted. As the waters receded and the people of Nashville were able begin to access the damages - I have learned that they began to be overwhelmed by the support of their neighbors, who reached out to one another, in an effort to clean up, clean out, and move forward. Imagine it - volunteers working hard in the Volunteer State!

After getting an e-mail from my dear friend Natalie, who is also a former colleague, I was happy to know that she too was safe and sound. Although a few streets over, she soon relayed, some of her neighbors were not so lucky. In any event, Natalie is now taking in displaced Kitties who lost their homes and couldn't find their families during the flood. She is already a part of a foster program in her neighborhood that helps strays cats, by getting them to the vet and then finding them a permanent place to stay. But as you can imagine, now circumstances are a little bit different for pets in the area. Natalie does a lot for the community in general and has a lot of things going for her - she is a great person to know and will always do her part to help out… and that goes for Cats too! As a side note Natalie just named one of her recent foster kitties Dawson - I like it!

My Aunt Judy's home went untouched and all in the family were glad of that, she and the rest of my family seemed to have fared well.

Recently I had the opportunity to spend some time with a friend from Nashville who is working on a Documentary, and through that process it brought her through Texas. Being the avid facebooker that I am - that day I noticed that she had just uploaded a photo of Texas' Capitol building here in Austin - of which I work in. I quickly commented on the photo, reminding her that I was in Austin. Later that evening I had the privilege of spending time on Lady Bird Lake (on a bat tour), and having dinner with her, her lovely mother, Nancy, and some of her good friends. Stacie, who is a Jill* (rather than jack) of many trades produced a documentary depicting how hard the region, and her neighborhood of East Nashville had been hit. It was a tremendous piece and throughout the film I noticed how blessed people in Nashville felt. Even though many of them had lost everything - they were happy to be alive and happy to have been showered with so much love and support from their neighbors, friends, and family members. Here is a link to Stacie's film: What you didn't see! By Stacie Huckabe: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Eu8qdsBvhk

Also, my good friend and fellow Kentucky Colonel, K.C. Winfrey, a teacher in the Nashville city school system, with his wife Gene`, and young son Aspen are also members of the East Nashville community. They, after feeling safe and sound at home quickly hit the streets to lend a helping hand to their neighbors, some I am sure they knew and many I bet they didn't. Just another story of not waiting around for someone else to help get the job done for you, but getting out and making sure it gets done. K.C. and Gene` are always looking for ways to improve this world that we live in and Nashville is better off to have them as a part of the whole.

As I said, I know many people in Nashville. Some that I have not yet talked to about their situation in regards to the recent flooding. I have seen the news coverage and last night I quietly watched the GAC Telethon where the halls were decked with celebrities. All there to raise money for the great city and the great people of Nashville. All the while my heart felt more tender knowing how kind the hearts have been in the streets and neighborhoods of my former home. Little looting has taken place and little complaining either - just a whole lot of hard work, sweat and tears. And to quote Will Hoge, who graced the stage last night as the telethons finale to sing "Washed in the Water," "Nashville is open for business!" His lyrics flowed with meaning and purpose when he sang: "Down here we're washed by the water, but they can't wash us away!"

Nashville has been hit hard folks, and they need any help that they can get. Check out Stacie's video and check out the The Community Foundation's website. If you can spare something - give - they need it! Lend a hand to our friends in Nashville by donating to The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee at: http://www.cfmt.org/floodrelief/

Hang in there Nashville - you're loved - keep rocking!

Journeys and Adventures

Drifting through the streets of a city that has seen more than I will ever see or be able to understand, I came to know the bliss of being alive. Walls drenched with ivy, whispering out from the past as if to say: "I'm glad you've come." Passing by people and places, knowing that each step had been taken before, by someone else…but not this time. Singing to the tune in my head as I often do, inhaling breaths of jasmine and thanking the heavens for that treat. Louis, you had it right! "What a Wonderful World!"


I think of life as a journey. A journey to the next step, and when you reach the place you were looking for - you stand on that plateau and dream about the next. A journey to this place and that, and then back home, because you always have to go home. I like to think of home so much because I am away from my home. Away from the club houses made of fallen limbs and junk dragged in from here, there and everywhere. Because my memory can recreate home forever more, it makes the time in between not so long. Regardless, I am on a great adventure. An adventure filled with new people, new things, new things to see, to touch, and to feel, new music to tap my foot to and sing along.

Once upon a time me and two of my best buddies found and old seat out of a old car or truck out in the woods near our houses. We dragged that old seat five hundred yards or more, on our way to the perfect spot to set it down. That perfect spot just so happened to be a culvert, built as beautiful as a stone chimney, probably by the WPA or the CCC in the time of our grandparents, we had no idea. Regardless of who built this utilitarian fixture, we thought it was beautiful when we came across it. It over looked what we called a gully and dripped or moved water depending on the time of year through the creek that slithered through our forest. We set up that old teal bench-style seat right on top of that culvert and couldn't wait to see the view from our new grand stand. What a world we could create there in the shade of trees covered with grapevines that we swung on. A place out of a story book. A place where the red fern truly did grow. A place that even today I am not far removed from.

Three boys in three different cities, St. Louis, Shreveport and Austin . I wonder if those boys too remember that place? I bet they do. The sun has risen and set more times than I can count since those days. I am reminded still of the adventure I was on then and the one that I am on now. I wonder if I will ever go back to that specific place? Is it even necessary? Should I replace that pilgrimage with new places, new sites that have yet to be seen by my eyes? I think that is a good idea, at least I will always have the thought of it. Would going back change the whole magnificence of it? Would it be so much smaller and less grand? Would it be broken down or removed? Would a trip back to that place erase such a good memory? Maybe and maybe not! Regardless what the answers to those questions are and no matter what time does to that place, or to me, or to those buddies of mine…that memory is ours. That place and a hundred others belong to our stories. Soon and very so on I hope to see those friends of mine,and when I do I will bring up that culvert made of stone. I will bring up the memories that have popped up in my head today when I thought of that very spot. I would bring them up here but no one else would probably understand…but they will. They will know exactly what I am thinking without much explanation.

A place not too far from Rosedale Lane, East Hall, or 4-H Camp Road …they'll know the place. They might have gone back there too in a memory or a dream over the years.

Mom once had a toll painted sign hanging on a wall in another memory that said: "Home is where the heart is." I think that’s right in many ways, and I am certainly glad that you can take "home" with you when you have to leave. I am so thankful to be able to take "home" with me everywhere I go on this adventure. That stone culvert - whoever built it, Mom and Dad's table with four ladder back chairs - me by the window, trading garbage pail kids cards with my sister on twin beds - in a blue room, of course the smell of Juicy Fruit and Kool cigarettes, iced tea and fresh cherries, pipe smoke and African violets, stories told over and over again. The stories of my life. And I bring up this question myself: am I good enough for all of this? What did I do to deserve all that has been mine?

Years from now if my mind allows me access to these thoughts, if it will let me think of these places, of these people, if I am that lucky then and if I continue to add to this bank of good happenings and wonderful fellowship…I shall be a lucky man to have been able to have my adventure.

I am New Orleans Bound!

I will be out of town for the next few days, on a much needed vacation!  I do plan to come back to the keys with plenty of new ideas and inspiration when I return to Austin. 

All the best,
Jonathon

The Whispers

In the trees there is a whisper.  It is ever so soft and as natural as the leaves that fall from the branches.  This whisper is thrust about the forest, the lawns, the parks.  The branches of the trees throw this voice about like the ball that goes around the horn - one to another - a natural vibration and what does it say?

I like to think about what those trees are saying, what is this endless chatter?  Is it worthy, are their words strong,  would we bind them in leather and paint the edges of their pages gold for the world to see?  Would we put them on shelves and forget them or would we pull them down from time to time to draw strength or wisdom from these whispers. 

I like the music in the wind, and of all the songs and chords I have heard it is the soft, subtle whisper that gets me.  The tones so hard to get to that the beauty is in the tremble of vibrations.  The whistle of the leaves, waving like children waving from bus windows to moms and dads on porches.  The clinging of branches bending and swaying like waves crashing into a vacant shore, creating something that time remembers because it has been so common place.  But, even common things can be spectacular. 

If I were that tree, I would lend my voice to the singing birds, I'd look out for them, I'd be a stop in one their flights, I be words that they can't utter, I'd try be a friend. 

If I were that tree, I would sing my songs to the deer that graze beneath.  I'd praise the owl that calls out to the night, I'd give my trunk to the squirrel to spin around like garland on a banister coming down stairs into a room filled with everything the world is and can be. 

If I were that tree...but I'm not...and I will never be that tree.  Just the same but not.  Since I am not, I would like to contribute to that whisper.  To lend my humble song just in case he should have to go away.  To whisper into the wind if he should decay or be cut down.  Even in this effort I know that he will probably grow taller, grow stronger, he will spread his branches out like arms open wide; over patios, and church yards.He will see everything and that which he cannot see he will ask to the wind to let him know the answers.  He will send his seeds with those birds and those same winds to see more than he can, and eventually he will see everything. 

If that tree makes it farther, if that tree stands on the hillside and looks down on stone that bear my name I will be proud to see that tree. I would be proud for that tree to sing a song for me - but I request it only to be a whisper.  A whisper that tickles the pink furs of the Mimosa and glides across the solid surface of the magnolia.  I hope he will speak of honor!  I hope he will sing so softly that you think that it is me.  If that tree sways and breaks, when the thunder crashes and the lighting opens the night sky like drapes opening on Sunday morning, I will be there when that tree falls.  I will open my eyes when I hear the crash, I will quiver among the wake of this wave and in the wind will go my song, a song for you.  Words too long to write, words that have never been spoken.  Words in piles beside my bed, written by others and read by me.  Words that will change your life because they changed mine.  When the lightning stikes you will find the sweet things that I know and keep, the things you did not know I had or thought of.  You will see kindness as well as crazy, dignity and folly, check stubs that meant nothing and reciepts that meant everything.  Only when the sun rises on this mess will you see that it will be easy to clean up.  Rakes and lops and hands will come and hall this tree away and in the event that I am not there to pick up any of those branches...listen to the whisper of the wind...and that is where I will be.

{Inspired by a recent story - shared not told.  Lovely}