by Wilbur Witt
I do t want to be cleche, but I had a wonderful Saturday night. My nephew came over, brought some beer, and all the kids were here, along with my ex, and her husband. My husband in law made the most wonderful Mexican plate, and when we finished eating, my nephew and I broke out a guitar and gave everyone a show. Sean, my nephew, is a virtuoso on the guitar, and gave an excellent performance. I, on the other hand, tend to have a simpler style, but I have written so many songs no one ever notices. At any rate we filled two hours and everyone enjoyed enjoyed the concert. As we played the children danced all over the huge back porch. Children under seven are always fascinated by someone pulling out a huge wooden box and music coming out of it. In spite of all the technological advances over the years the sound of an unamplified Fender guitar retains its magic.
Over forty two plus years I have learned to sing, and I've mastered drinking beer and remembering the words to my songs, which is always nice. Combine that with little explanations of why I wrote each song, and the evening had a magic glow about it. The funny thing is that the evening wasn't planned. We just drifted from, "Let's get some beer," to, "Mexican would be nice," to, "Uncle Billy, do you still have that Fender?" We didn't know it had been a good evening until it was over! No camera, no amps, no problems.
Life is like that. The best things are always free. The children will remember it forever. I still remember a porch party where my Uncle Charlie made peach ice cream, and us kids had to go get the peaches from a tree! I was five years old, and some of the children at that get together have died of old age! Some people, especially organizations try to create such evenings. You cant! God dispenses evenings like that. I guarantee you that somewhere else in the world a group of people gathered last night and some children will remember eating something that only a grandfather, or uncle could whip up in his own special way. A friend of mine told me once that he was watching his grandchildren for a day and when it came lunch time he found that nothing was thawed to cook. He had a good supply of large cuts of meat, but no "kid" stuff. So, he took out some potatoes, some garlic and an onion, fried it up and told the kids it was his "world famous potatoes!" They were ecstatic!
Tomorrow the news will grind out the stories that piss us all off. Jodi Arias will try to convince her jury she just had a bad hair day, Hillary Clinton will try to convince John McCaine SHE had a bad hair day (who's the bigger sociopath?) and Obama will try to convince us all that HE'S the president, but for a brief time, on a back porch in Texas, a family so diversified a Hollywood screen writer couldn't have dreamed it up, got together, and children danced. Happy Mothers Day, everyone!
No comments:
Post a Comment