I remember it was a hot day.
Not unusual for Central California – but hot is hot.
I remember that we’d been riding our bikes in our bathing suits. Now, that means we either were going swimming or had been swimming. I don’t remember.
Isn’t it funny how that memory thing works – or doesn’t? Some parts are so clear, others…not so clear.
But I do remember that we were hot.
Sweltering hot.
And we had just stopped to dip our feet in the water.
We were not going swimming – just dipping our feet in the water.
And then my brother rode by – and said, “Get out of there! You are in so much trouble!”
Almost immediately following that warning, my Mom came by in the car, and said, “Jayne Elizabeth Day, get home now!”
Upon my arrival at home…..My Dad gave me the whupping of my life.
For years, hell. For DECADES I’ve harbored a bit of righteous indignation over that whupping. I mean, we weren’t swimming. We were just getting our toes wet…
I awoke this morning to this headline:
Fresno 4th-grader had been trying to get basketball.
-and I dissolved in tears. Yshema Snowden wasn’t swimming – she was just trying to retrieve her basketball.
I was probably around the same age when I had my toe-dipping experience. There but for the grace of God, my brother Jeff, my Mom and my Dad…..
I just want to thank my family for always being there for me. And please, keep the Snowden family in your thoughts and prayers this week.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Monday, May 14, 2007
SAVIOUR OF THE SKIES
My absolutely favorite song....and this guy knows how to spell my name right....
If I had a song....I'd sing it in the morning...
In response to Lime's question on the Airplane Jane video post: "You've got a song?"
Let me explain.....
So…I met this singer-songwriter a few years ago. I’m sure I’ve told you about him: lyrics ta knot yer knickers in a twist and all…
Don’t believe me? Check these lyrics out:
….I had to go
to a foreign shore
and though you’re far
I feel your arms
Around my heart.
I give to you my only dream
It’s all that I live for
Just close your eyes
And don’t you cry
Cos’ I’m with you…..
My Only Dream, by kien lim, 2004
“Whoa!” I thought, “what incredible lyrics. This guy is deep….”
I mean, doesn’t that song just scream love and devotion? I’m thinking it’s about some guy who goes a zillion (times 2) miles away to build a life for his love and himself… I just had to know (yes, inquiring minds and all) –
“Tell me,” I begged and pleaded, “Give me the back story? Who’s it about? Or is it too personal?”
“Well, ya’ see,” he responded, “it was inspired by the deaths of a bunch of Chinese cockle famers that drowned.”
Yes. Drowned…
Drowned….but called home to China to talk to their loved ones before they died…..
(see why we refer to him as “dark pop?”)
Now….flash ahead a few months….to the summer of 2005.
“What’s it like to skydive?” questions the troubadour.
“Why?” I respond, “Do you wanna jump?”
“Well….I’m not sure. But I’m wanting to write a song about flying…..and skydiving….”
Several emails and much begging later (patience is not my best virtue), I received this in the mail:
Motorhead can't hesitate
A paralytic mind will find her dead
She stole a ride with the morning sun
From the edge did she fall
Into a dizzy spin and a passion born
She found her name far above the clouds
She is flying
With the sighing savior of the skies
So glorious
Is this golden dayOf faith
Scatter her soul to the wind
The rush of the world is beckoning
A score and oneHundred miles per hour
And as horizons fill her mind
Serenity and peace abide
No bitterness
No more lonely lies
So glorious
Is this golden day of falling free
So gloriousIs this amber day
She found her home
Within a dream
Of blue reality
Saviour of the Skies , by kien lim 2005
Okay, okay – but Motorhead is so much better than Motormouth – which he threatened to change it to….
And come on – dontcha just luv the bit about finding a name above the clouds!?!?
So yup – even if the whole thing ain’t mine, this is my song – I’ve claimed it. I don’t think there’s any hidden tragedies within – no dead cockle farmers, no suicidal roadies, no tragic vacation junkies.
At least I don’t think so....
Egads, kien, please don’t tell me if there is.
I love the song just the way I hear it: happy, serene and peaceful….and all that at one hundred miles per hour.
Blue skies ya’ll,
APj
Let me explain.....
So…I met this singer-songwriter a few years ago. I’m sure I’ve told you about him: lyrics ta knot yer knickers in a twist and all…
Don’t believe me? Check these lyrics out:
….I had to go
to a foreign shore
and though you’re far
I feel your arms
Around my heart.
I give to you my only dream
It’s all that I live for
Just close your eyes
And don’t you cry
Cos’ I’m with you…..
My Only Dream, by kien lim, 2004
“Whoa!” I thought, “what incredible lyrics. This guy is deep….”
I mean, doesn’t that song just scream love and devotion? I’m thinking it’s about some guy who goes a zillion (times 2) miles away to build a life for his love and himself… I just had to know (yes, inquiring minds and all) –
“Tell me,” I begged and pleaded, “Give me the back story? Who’s it about? Or is it too personal?”
“Well, ya’ see,” he responded, “it was inspired by the deaths of a bunch of Chinese cockle famers that drowned.”
Yes. Drowned…
Drowned….but called home to China to talk to their loved ones before they died…..
(see why we refer to him as “dark pop?”)
Now….flash ahead a few months….to the summer of 2005.
“What’s it like to skydive?” questions the troubadour.
“Why?” I respond, “Do you wanna jump?”
“Well….I’m not sure. But I’m wanting to write a song about flying…..and skydiving….”
Several emails and much begging later (patience is not my best virtue), I received this in the mail:
Motorhead can't hesitate
A paralytic mind will find her dead
She stole a ride with the morning sun
From the edge did she fall
Into a dizzy spin and a passion born
She found her name far above the clouds
She is flying
With the sighing savior of the skies
So glorious
Is this golden dayOf faith
Scatter her soul to the wind
The rush of the world is beckoning
A score and oneHundred miles per hour
And as horizons fill her mind
Serenity and peace abide
No bitterness
No more lonely lies
So glorious
Is this golden day of falling free
So gloriousIs this amber day
She found her home
Within a dream
Of blue reality
Saviour of the Skies , by kien lim 2005
Okay, okay – but Motorhead is so much better than Motormouth – which he threatened to change it to….
And come on – dontcha just luv the bit about finding a name above the clouds!?!?
So yup – even if the whole thing ain’t mine, this is my song – I’ve claimed it. I don’t think there’s any hidden tragedies within – no dead cockle farmers, no suicidal roadies, no tragic vacation junkies.
At least I don’t think so....
Egads, kien, please don’t tell me if there is.
I love the song just the way I hear it: happy, serene and peaceful….and all that at one hundred miles per hour.
Blue skies ya’ll,
APj
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Airplane Jane Music Video
Hey!!!! I've got a(nother) song. Of course, this one is much more silly than the other....but it DOES say my name....
And no....I've never met this bloke -- never been to Florida!!
So....how did he know that I needed a map!?!?!?
Friday, May 04, 2007
A few of my favorites.....
So....while the troubadour was here, I loaned him a few books -- one he....ummm....didn't care for..... and two he liked.
The two he liked were from one of my favorite authors - C.S. Lewis. Like many, the first Lewis I read was the Narnia Chronicles. Then I discovered the Screwtape Letters, The Great Divorce, Mere Christianity, Surprised by Joy.....the list goes on. Lewis approaches our relationship with God and the world in a truly unique way. I felt like sharing a few of my favorite Lewis quotes:
There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, “Thy will be done,” and those to whom God says, “All right, then, have it your way.”
It seems that so much of my life journey I have spent giving instructions to God. In hindsight, these have been the "Jonah" portions of my life -- the times when I boldly went in the opposite direction. And sometimes, God, very firmly, let me know that it was THY way, not MY that was important.
It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.
I cannot change into what I need to be by doing nothing! And, although it is kinda hard to accept being an egg, good or bad--I accept that I must change. Because no change at all will result in something: me going rotten!
Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.
Perhaps this is the one I love the most, and the one I struggle with the hardest. I keep shoving love in the casket -- hoping to keep it safe. But it is not safe: it changes. It changes, like the egg above, into something rotten. I need to unlock the casket, and risk being vulnerable.
Yes, yes, I know I keep saying it! I need to do it!!! But, again.....I am Jonah.....
The two he liked were from one of my favorite authors - C.S. Lewis. Like many, the first Lewis I read was the Narnia Chronicles. Then I discovered the Screwtape Letters, The Great Divorce, Mere Christianity, Surprised by Joy.....the list goes on. Lewis approaches our relationship with God and the world in a truly unique way. I felt like sharing a few of my favorite Lewis quotes:
There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, “Thy will be done,” and those to whom God says, “All right, then, have it your way.”
It seems that so much of my life journey I have spent giving instructions to God. In hindsight, these have been the "Jonah" portions of my life -- the times when I boldly went in the opposite direction. And sometimes, God, very firmly, let me know that it was THY way, not MY that was important.
It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.
I cannot change into what I need to be by doing nothing! And, although it is kinda hard to accept being an egg, good or bad--I accept that I must change. Because no change at all will result in something: me going rotten!
Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.
Perhaps this is the one I love the most, and the one I struggle with the hardest. I keep shoving love in the casket -- hoping to keep it safe. But it is not safe: it changes. It changes, like the egg above, into something rotten. I need to unlock the casket, and risk being vulnerable.
Yes, yes, I know I keep saying it! I need to do it!!! But, again.....I am Jonah.....
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