Out of the Basement

What will they say when you're gone? Will there been anything left of you to carry on? In their sad little circles what will they recall? Will they remember you at all? (C) dsc 2012

I spent the weekend at a little campsite just west of our home. We set up our camper along with the other camping Callahans and turned the campground into a gathering place for a couple  days with friends and family! Great time had by all! It's always intriguing to me to watch all these different groups come together and interact. I am amazed how strangers become friends who then become family. It's a simple recipe of time, space, desire and commitment.  Wonderful things happen when you want them to and are willing to work in earnest to make it so. Within the construct of this group I spent the weekend with are friends I made over 30 years ago... people who I have been blessed to mentor through their lives... others who I have worked with for nearly 20 years... and of course some of my family! We even had a little new baby member of the 1302 Club join us this trip! I am humbled by the blessing of love and friendship... family and fellowship that I find celebrating with thes...

I woke this morning thinking about something my mother in law said to me many years ago. We were working in her garden just talking about life and she made a statement that has traveled with me as well as anything I've heard. She said, "the problem with young people is that they want now for themselves what I've worked my whole life to have!" Having thought about that many times over the years, I still find it to be true, but in a more general sense. We have to work for it... what ever It is! If it's a career or a relationship or a lifestyle or just a life; we have to work at it! In our smart phone, Internet, and information driven culture, we can become instant experts on virtually everything. But, all that we learn can't replace practical application and committed engagement to our cause and desire. You can build a house on paper, but somebody has to nail the boards together. You can create a spreadsheet of prospects, but you still have to sell something....

We had a moment last night. Well, Angie did and I got to be a watcher from the sideline of one of those situations where we see God move... and awestruck... we just watch! But don't let me get ahead of myself. My dad received his CT scan results Tuesday. The doctor told him he didn't see any cancer! So last night we were going out to dinner to celebrate. As the time approached, family members were falling off our list due to circumstance, so we postponed to another night. Still needing to eat, Angie and I took my dad to one of his favorite places, Waffle House! The staff there was incredible. Helpful, friendly, fun, and very accomodating.  My dad looked at his hash browns and decided he couldn't eat them and asked could he have some more instead. Amanda, our server, was so awesome, she said "of course, we want you to be happy!" She separated the food so he could keep eating and had more hash browns made. A couple minutes later Josh, the cook, brought the new one...

I was reading this morning about how we are to work on our body and our soul to achieve growth. It's pretty evident when someone is pushing themselves physically,  but how can we tell when someone is exerting on a spiritual level? If our goal is to meet people at the point of their need, we have to know what to look for. Not everyone emotes the same way. People are the most unique and individual creatures God made. Along with that comes the need to read and discern each one's needs and motivations differently. How is that to be done? The answer is one line back... read (observe) and discern (open your heart's eyes and ears  to see and hear  beyond the visual and audible) and then act on your motivations as you  are lead. We live in a world that is more fearful,  frightening, and pain ridden than most can recall. It's our responsibility to see and respond. The second greatest commandment is to love our neighbor as ourself. That's a lot! Keep your eyes open and...

It seems to me that my brightest and most creative moments occur when I am least prepared to chronicle them! As a writer/songwriter you are taught to keep the tools close as you wait on inspiration. But how many lines or ponderings have been lost to heavy eyelids or clamouring distraction? A lot! Along with inspiration,  it's sometimes necessary to follow your heart... be a little impulsive. You have to go for it. As they say, "nothing ventured nothing gained!" Being impulsive is not always a bad thing. Some of our best moments have been preceded by uncertainty and doubt left abandoned by our sense of curiosity and our need for the experiential. However, wandering inspiration and unbridled impulse is likened to a  crazed captain steering a rudderless ship. It either goes nowhere or everywhere with no regard for direction. Which brings me to my point... disciplined determination.  How many thoughts or deeds are left unrealized or never acted upon because we just don...

The funny thing about a journey is that it's never insular nor singular. People inhabit every footfall along the way and one turn leads to a myriad of choices and opportunities. Depending on the motive, we are afforded the chance to see and meet many and share experiences otherwise unknown. The longer and farther you go, the more you come to see and know. But, it's always best to be heading towards somewhere because just heading anywhere often leads us nowhere. To use a couple old  anachronisms, It's okay to "stop and smell the roses" but, "Don't miss the forest for the trees." It's always paramount to know where we are going. Put another way, "where there is no vision, the people perish. " So, with a definite and desired destination,  we can rejoin our journey with anticipation for the people we meet, the places we see and the changes they bring in us as we go and grow.

There is that point in every journey when you  can see ahead to the course you so carefully laid out, and for a brief respite,  look back over your shoulder to see your reward on a path trod through what was uncertainty and hopeful anticipation... It is then that the buckling down need begin. I went out to celebrate last night with some folks who all has good reasons to do so. One with great results from a serious illness, another with a baby about to be born, others with new dwellings and new opportunities to rejoice over. It struck me on my way home that every journey is the same. A beginning where vision paints a picture of what we hope for in the future. A desire then kindles a determined will to live the future we are creating. Finally,  as we see growth and strength from the journey, we set our eyes towards vigilance and diligence as we assure nothing pulls our attention from what's ahead of us! There'll be potholes... detours... sometimes we just make unnecessa...

I posted a song by a friend of mine yesterday. The song is titled, "Don't Call" and the singer and writer is Leon Timbo. I remember the first time I heard him sing it was in my basement studio. He shared it's meaning to another friend, Charles Harris and I, and I recall being blown away by all that resides in the lyrics! To me it's a song that screams desperation and need while at the same time offering hope and sanctuary! It's loaded with conflict and resolution. But the line "write it out with me, fight it out with me" sings a song of friendship that reaches to the very heart of the matter. Relationship is a complex organism all of its own. It takes certain portions of good times,  bad times, understanding, love, hope and truth to make it work. As it evolves and life tests it's measure, the relationship solidifies and flourishes, or breaks apart. In the song, as that resolve is challenged the singer is telling us, don't stand on the side...

I was talking to a friend of mine yesterday and the phrase quid pro quo became the focus of the conversation. It really just means, something for something, and most would recall it from the Silence of the Lambs movie. I recall it always because in working with people I find it works best to give them something for something. When dealing with matters of the heart, soul, and mind it is necessary from time to time to share where you are so others can find a comfortable place to explore their space! I find it builds trust because people see me as human with the same frailties and faults as others. It's in that space where a common cause develops and traction builds growth. But at the same time, I think quid pro quo takes a twist for me. In years back, I wrote a song called Reach the Lost.  In it resides one of my favorite phrases I have penned. "Each one should reach one and teach one the way, there's strength in the numbers we find." It's in that phrase where I s...

I am one of those people who clean out my closet at the first hint of Spring and as the first leaves fall in Autumn. It's a part of my ritual... just me. I spent part of this weekend completing the task. It was very different this time. Good in some ways, not so much in others.  I have always thought of it as the seasonal swap... this go-round it felt more like a purge. It's probably the journey, maybe my state of mind, but I felt the need to let go. I kept asking myself, why did you buy that... or will you ever really wear them? Was it want or need that dictated purchase? Before I was done I had two large bags full of things. Our lives are much like that; a lot went into collecting all those things... a lifetime of want, desire, pursuit, remorse,  anxiety, and on it goes. Yet, if we are not cautious,  we pack and pile until we cannot put our hands on the things we need most; their lost in the minutiae or purposely hidden. I waited too long to purge. It's been needed ...

Today is day 40... it's the presumed center of the journey. I have as many questions now as answers. Not sure what to be looking for but I am still waiting. Strangely, habits have been changing... new behaviors have developed; some unexpected... some just down right puzzling! But I still wait. Not in some obsequious manner, waiting on my next task, but just listening. It's peculiar what you hear when you don't attempt to modulate the frequency. For instance, I dropped my phone today and cracked the screen. I cracked the screen because I didn't have the glass shield on it. I didn't have the glass shield on it because my office is in a total shambles from the remodel and I am not quite sure where it resides presently.  That is a total of three steps removed for an incident that normally would have sent me straight to DEFCON ONE!!! But this morning, on Day 40... I am just trying to find someone to replace my screen. No heavy punctuation, no stressed-faced emojis... ...

I made carnitas and chicken tacos for Cinco de Mayo. One of my branches had a customer appreciation lunch and I usually cook for the events. The warehouse manager and his wife used my cooking trailer to make homemade nachos and she has stayed up most of the night prior making tamales! Amazing! I had all my food cooked and ready to go, so I was just talking to them and watching them hurriedly prepare their offerings. They are both such gracious and wholesome people so anyone would be easily drawn to them. Great folks! Later, as we were serving our customers, while still in "observation mode" I watched the very sincere appreciation from our customers that we took the time to thank them. It wasn't just transactional... it was relational. It was personal. I am still moved by it even now. Despite the fact that we struggled with communicating at times, there was no language barrier... we spoke a common word; thanksgiving and appreciation. Ironically, I left our Cinco de Mayo...

I have been thinking about the difference between being conscientious and contentious. One means to be thoughtful about doing something the right way, while the other means to be argumentative. They are not opposites directly, but in a more figurative way they can be. I have long considered myself to be conscientious; seeking to think, speak, and act rightly. My thought has been that it is just as easy to get along as it is to create trouble or to engage in exacerbating it! While at the same time, I tend to be head strong and resolute about things of consequence to me, and often labor arduously over my position. In other words, I can be argumentative... contentious. Ironic as it is, I have the propensity to be both. I am both! Now comes the hard part; finding the balance. We should always be considerate and thoughtful, working to live out a higher purpose in our lives. And, it's okay to be passionate about what we feel and think. However,  we have to be cautious to not be comba...

We took Myrtle on the long portion of our walk this morning. We knew we would have to carry her at some point,  she's just not up to it anymore. At 13 years with serious heart issues, we know we are on borrowed time. The vets at the Auburn Vet school told us that almost three years ago. She would get a little worse, then we could give her meds, but then we might have 18 months with her. The meds started nearly two years ago.  We know that the time is a gift. So, we walk her as much as she can, then we carry her. She is used to it, I carried her in my shirt pocket all the way from Myrtle Beach SC to our home 8 weeks after she was born. Ironically, in many ways she has carried us much farther with the love and comfort she has brought to us over the years. Through all the trials along the path of our lives she has snuggled for, chased after, and yes even demanded our attention! And it has been a blessed and wonderful distraction as life beat down on us to have that little five p...