My Aunt was dying. It fell to my Mom and me to go through her things. It was odd while she was still alive. I’d point at something and say, ‘what about this?’. And she would just look at me and shrug. After a while I realized she didn’t really care what happened […]
Three songs that are important to me:
John Denver’s “Take me Home, Country Roads”.
Road trips to Gramma’s. Or the Lake. Or anywhere really. My family liked to sing in the car. We all did. We weren’t bad either! All of us kids have made singing a part of our lives, from church to school to puttin’ it out their during Karaoke at the bowling alley or VFW. John Denver’s songs were always great to sing to…some sweet harmony…easy range…simple lyrics. Feel good music. Reminds me of home and all the adventures we used to go on.
Madonna’s “Burnin’ Up”.
1985. Madison, WI. Moving from the dorm into a sublet apartment on the third floor of an old three-story house on E. Johnson. There are yards of fabric pinned to the ceiling. Three of us girls moved in for the summer. Jimmy was the only permanent resident left over from the academic year. He’s gay and he wears O rings up and down one arm. He loves Madonna. And so do I. All of our roommate angst disappears when we put on Madonna. We dance like crazy. This is my favorite Madonna. Lucky Star. Borderline. Holiday. But Burning Up is the song that encapsulates this summer. My boyfriend, now husband, is not a Madonna fan, so I can blast her when I’m with Jimmy. And there’s no threat. I felt free. Sexy. Excited.
Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb”.
I was never a Pink Floyd fan in high school. When I got to Madison and lived at Sellery Hall Dormitory, I met Dan Carlson. Pink Floyd was probably only second to Led Zeppelin in his music collection. When we first started dating, we would spend a lot of time staring into each other’s eyes, listening to The Wall. When I think of this now, it makes me smile. This song makes me physically relax. It reminds me, too, of the summer after freshman year, when we had to part ways…him off to the Twin Cities and me back to Racine. That was the hardest summer of my life. I still have the boom box my Dad bought me after he picked me up from the dorm. The cassette player doesn’t work anymore, but it does include the port to plug in my iPhone. Now whenever I want to listen to The Wall, I can find it on my iPhone or Dan’s iPad. When I listen to it, I still feel quiet, peaceful, numb.
The drive is long but worth it. We unpack the truck and load our things into the cabin. It’s cozy but has everything we need…and nothing more…for the next five days.
The air is clear and cool. It’s the beginning of September, so nights can get downright cold; one year we had planned to camp on an island the entire week, but temperatures were predicted to be in the 20s at night, so we stayed in the hotel instead.
Once the food is unpacked into the fridge, we rig our fishing poles and consider how we’re dressed. We grab a light sweatshirt and a windbreaker/raincoat, a hat and gloves, and we’re on our way.
The boat is stocked with bait, a net, paddles (that will hopefully not be needed), and a small cooler of drinks and snacks. The resort owner confirms we have a full tank of gas; we have our GPS; we’re on our way to explore the open spaces and cozy coves of Voyageur’s National Park, one of my favorite places to visit. The small bays are filled with cattails and lily pads. Eagles soar overhead and occasionally dive for fish, but mostly circle above the trees on the islands.
I don’t really care if I catch a fish, although it’s always more fun if I do. I love the sound of the water lapping against the boat, the occasional fellow fisherman racing past to find the right spot, the heat of the sun on my face, the ice cold beverages, the feeling of wide open space and freedom from “busy-ness”.
Here it is. Day one of my blogging. Go. The twist on today’s challenge is that I have to post it to my blog. So when they say, ‘just write and don’t stop until your 20 minutes is up’, I can’t write about just anything. It has to be “clean” and be of […]
Monday starts my blogging challenge and I’m swamped with work. I’m not going to worry so much about how great my writing is. I think I’m going to just make myself do these daily assignments but not spend more than 15 minutes doing it. You can do anything for 15 minutes, right?
WordPress has presented a Blogging U Challenge. This is what I need to sharpen my writing skills.