Heart Song
Soaring
Everything was kind of muffled. Nasty head cold turned into both ears becoming infected. The anti-biotics are helping but all of the pollen in the air is making the process seem longer and a little bit confusing. Am I still sick? Or is it now just about having bad allergies?
Who really cares… it all feels bad.
Last Friday night I thought about going up to Starbucks and drawing for a little while but my ears … blech. I needed to go to the store instead. So I popped some DayQuil, pulled on a sweatshirt over my t-shirt, baseball cap, wore flip-flops and jeans … jumped in the car for .6 miles and headed in to the store.
I felt like a total middle aged bachelor on a Friday night. All I cared about was getting some kettle corn popcorn, diet 7-up and … whatever else was on my mental grocery list. Buying groceries and renting the movie Precious … those were my big Friday night plans.
I walked in the door and went to get a buggy and I noticed someone had left a two gallon jug of milk in one of them stacked several deep. Not only did someone forget that jug of milk, someone else had shoved more carts in line without even noticing. I dug the jug out and took it up to customer service.
Seeing the Musical Wicked – Again! A Brief Review
Some friends and I went to Tampa Friday night to see Wicked being performed at the Tampa Performing Arts Center (TPAC). It was fantastic … of course. I saw it in London last May and was thoroughly impressed with it there. However, the Apollo Victoria Theater (London) is a much smaller venue than the TPAC and I have to say, while the quality of the plays were phenomenal on both sides of The Pond, sitting in the 2nd balcony among 10 (15?) times the people clearly distinguished both experiences. In London, I went on a Tuesday night when all of the college students decided to go. I dressed up (a little more than business casual) for the play but the kids around me were literally in jeans and one girl had flowers all in her hair.
I Am Glad She's Happy
Last night I was listening to one of my favorite songs over the years. It’s called “No Letting Go” by Wayne Wonder. I liked it before I met my last girlfriend but it took on a new dimension while I was dating her.
As the song played, my heart began to sink before my mind remembered that it had been one of “our” songs. It clicked in my head that over the past couple of years I hadn’t really allowed myself to listen to it all the way through when it would pop up randomly on my iPhone. It has a distinctive beginning so normally, without hesitation, I would click the >>| button to get to the next song as soon as possible. This has been my defensive reaction to what might appear to be a small reminder of her that for whatever reason wasn’t as small as I wanted it to be.
Until last night, when it didn’t even cross my mind to not listen to it all the way through. My heart remembered, that’s why it began to sink, even though my mind had temporarily forgotten our relationship.
Bittersweet moment of recognition. I have moved on.
Taking Our Place
At church one of my friends is a great single Mom to three great kids, one girl and two boys. I have watched them growing over the past few years and they are a delight. The oldest boy, we will call Kevin, loves to joke around, skinny, dark hair, freckles and does a dead on impersonation of Drew Barrymore’s cadence.
Funny kid.
Today, I looked over and while he had left his mother’s side quite a while ago to join the tweens/teens section on the front row to our left, it was very cool to see him today having fun among his friends. They were singing, talking and being a part of our church. They even looked like they wanted to be there and were having fun! 
The thought came to mind, “He’s taken his place,” and I felt very encouraged for him.
On another note, some sad news also happened. Our worship leader Abby, had to fly home last week because her grandfather passed away. In her place the guitar guy, we will call Blond Faux Hawk Dude, stepped up to fill in the gap as worship leader. In times past when he has led a song, he sounds like a cross between Third Day and Scott Stapp.
Excellent. I really like Third Day and Scott Stapp.
