Because it stirs my soul intensly. . .

There has always been something about music that stirs my soul. Since I was a little girl, music reached me on a different level.
Some of my first memories are of swinging in my back yard in only my butterfly underwear and a cowgirl hat, singing Dolly Parton's 'I Will Always Love You' to the top of my lungs and crying my eyes out by the end.
Even then I felt the music and the words in a way that some don't understand. Well, nothing has changed in my (almost) 35 years.
I still cry everytime I hear Fleetwood Mac's 'Landslide' and I still dance in my car anytime Cameo's 'Candy' blares from my radio speakers. (Those are just two examples of HUNDREDS!)
I'm not one to post song lyrics. It seems like the cheater way out of finding my own words to express feelings. . . kinda like buying a stupid Hallmark card. . .
Then there are times when WOW, it just hits me as hard as the fifth martini!
So here I am, taking the easy way out. My soul swells when I hear this song and I swear that I could not write these words any better.
The song is 'So Small' sung by Carrie Underwood.

What you got if you aint got love?
The kind that you just wanna give away
It's okay to open up
Go ahead and let the light shine through
I know it's hard on a rainy day
You wanna shut the world out
And just be left alone
Don't run out on your faith

It's so easy to get lost inside
A problem that seems so big, at the time
It's like a river that's so wide
It swallows you whole
While you're sittin round thinking about what you can't change
And worryin' about all the wrong things
Time's flying by, moving so fast
You better make it count, cause you can't get it back

Sometimes that mountain you've been climbing
Is just a grain of sand
What you've been out there searchin for forever
Is in your hands
When you figure out love is all that matters after all
It sure makes everything else
Seem so small

Things you can do in a day. . .

In a day you can work, drive to the ocean, call your parents, play tennis, watch your favorite TV show, eat three meals, read a book, sing a song, go for a run, walk to the park, have a picnic, visit a neighbor, cook dinner, shop for a new pair of shoes, write a letter, fly across the Atlantic Ocean, scuba dive, video your child’s first steps, do some gardening, wish a friend a happy birthday, move to a new place, make a list of things to do, do the first thing on your list, take a friend to lunch, reorganize your desk, wash your car, paint your nails, plan a vacation, meet someone new, watch a movie, visit a friend no longer with you, visit his wife and children, build a fire, drive an unknown road, pay your bills, play with your puppy, hike a trail, kiss a loved one, get an oil change, do your laundry, go to the go to the doctor, think about all the things you can do in a day.

One thing you can’t do in only one day is spend enough time with a dear friend before he gets on a plane to go home.

Hump Day

It’s Wednesday. Hump Day; the day when you are officially halfway to the end of the work week.
This week I am extra special happy for this day! This hump day brings me not only closer to the end of the work week but also to vacation.

As of yesterday it has been 7 months since I’ve had any type of vacation. The thought of a full seven days, lying in the sand instead of sitting in my office chair, listening to the waves roll in instead of the numbing voices of my coworkers, morning puppy kisses instead of an alarm clock and no schedule other than the one I choose, is something I am not only looking forward to but am desperately needing.

Even the 9 hour drive is peaceful.
I’ll rise around 2am on Saturday morning, have a quick shower, a good strong cup of coffee, the car will already be packed, I’ll scoop up my puppy and hit the road by 3am.
Around 5:00am I’ll pass through Knoxville, TN (it will be OH so tempting to take the Alcoa Highway for a nostalgic drive or even continue on I-75 south to that dot on the map so few people know about) but I will pass and head east on ole I-40.
By 6:30am I’ll approach the beautiful Smokey Mountains of North Carolina. As the sun wakes up it will play a game hide and go seek with me as I wind my way up the mountain. As I come down the other side around 9am, I’ll say good morning to South Carolina.
I’ll know I’m getting close when I begin to see the trees full of kudzu!
10:30 am . . . CAREFUL! Highway 22 has cops!
They got me last year . . . sneaky bastards!
(Even if they were sitting right in the middle of the highway IN PLAIN SIGHT!)
Oh well, a little crank of the volume dial and some cruise control set at 60 should keep me right!
11:30am - I’ll take a deep, salty breath and know that the next seven days are mine.
Mine all mine.


PS – I forgot just one thing.
Noon – There will be sand, a beer and a blanket. . . OH! And me; toes in the sand, sun on my face, wind in my hair . . . and waves; beautiful, blue-green, Atlantic waves. . . .