Saturday, August 26, 2017

My Favorite Songs - A to Z

Longtime readers of this blog know that I love music.  As such, I thought it would be fun to list some of my favorite songs - with a twist: going through the alphabet and picking a favorite by a band from each letter of the alphabet.  It had to be the first band that came to mind for that letter and then my favorite song by that band/artist.  The other caveat - it can't be a one hit wonder.

Here's my list:

A - Aerosmith - "What It Takes"
B - The Beatles - "Let It Be"
C - Counting Crows - "A Long December" (though "Sullivan Street is a close second.)
D - Duran Duran - "Rio"
E - Eagles - "Take It Easy"
F - Foo Fighters - "Everlong"
G - Green Day - "Pulling Teeth"
H - Hootie and the Blowfish - "Let Her Cry"
I - Inxs - "Need You Tonight"
J - Alan Jackson - "Dallas"
K - Hal Ketchum - "Sure Love"
L - Live - "Lightning Crashes"
M - Metallica - "One"
N - Nirvana - "Smells Like Teen Spirit"
O - Old 97s - "Busted Afternoon" (with "Murder (Or A Heart Attack)" being a close second).
P - Pearl Jam - "Black"
Q - Queen - "We Are The Champions"
R - Randy Rogers Band - "Tonight's Not The Night (For Goodbye)"
S - Stone Temple Pilots - "Interstate Love Song"
T - Turnpike Troubadours - "7&7"
U - U2 - "With or Without You"
V - Velvet Revolver - "Fall to Pieces"
W - Weezer - "Buddy Holly"
X - I couldn't come up with an X artist, so I'm going to be give you another G selection - Gin Blossoms - "Allison Road" (this was a TOUGH one....I love so many of their songs)
Y - Eli Young Band - "Even If It Breaks Your Heart"
Z - Zac Brown Band - "Chicken Fried"

There's my list.  What are your thoughts?  How many of these would be on your list?  I love to hear your choices.

Thanks for reading!

Wednesday, August 16, 2017

Back to School (or Where Did the Time Go?)

Today marks the first day of school - the start of another school year and the unofficial end of summer.  This year is significant in that my son starts high school and it is my daughter's last year of elementary school.  It's hard to believe that I am the parent of a high schooler and that my baby girl will be in middle school a year from now.  Where did the time go?

It seems like just yesterday when my wife and I dropped my son off for his first day of kindergarten, when his backpack was almost as big as he was.  Now, it seems like I blinked my eyes and he's in high school and we're talking about graduation credits and college credits and activity passes for Friday night football games.  How is that possible?  Where did the time go?

It seems like a few days ago when I was picking my daughter up from preschool and now she's the Big Girl on Campus at her elementary school.  She's quickly growing from my little Lindsay bug into a strong willed, feisty, independent young woman.  What happened to the pigtails and little dolls?  Where did the time go?

My wife and I had our first date a little more than 19 years ago.  She started teaching that year and now she's closer to retirement than she is to being a new teacher.  How is that possible?  Where did the time go?

I've been with my employer now for 16 years.  I remember when I was the new kid on the block and the youngest person in the HR department.  I used to listen to the old war stories of how things used to work in the "good old days" of the gas company.  Now, I'm one of the most senior people in the department and I'm the one telling the war stories.  How did that happen so quickly?  Where did the time go?

This year marks 25 years since I graduated from high school and 21 years since I graduated from college.  To quote "Strawberry Wine", a country song from Deana Carter from the 1990s, "I still remember when 30 was old."  I remember when the thought of being an adult with a wife and little kids and a job and a house in the suburbs seemed so far away, so mature.  Now, here I am approaching my mid 40s, with a kid in high school and another kid closing in on middle school.  How is it that the shy, goofy, skinny kid from Lafayette and Baylor is now a goofy, less skinny, full fledged adult who has a wife and two kids and two dogs and a mortgage and who is closer to retirement than he is to being in school?  How is that possible?  Where did the time go?

A wise person once told me that as you get older, you'll find that the days sometimes drag but the weeks and months and years fly by.  The older I get, the more true that seems.  While there are some days when the clock seems to stand still, the next thing I know, another month has passed.  Summer has faded into fall.  Another school year has come and gone and I feel like the time with my kids is slipping through my fingers like sand on the beach. I often want to hit pause and stop things so that I can take it all in, but I know that I can't do that.  Instead, I know that I need to make the most of each phase of life and cherish the moments that I have with my kids and family and friends because I'm going to blink and my kids will be on their own and I'll be looking at an empty nest and some of those family and friends will no longer be around.  Right now, that still seems far away, but I know that it will happen much faster than I could ever imagine.

Thanks for reading.