My Take on Charleston (So Far)

 

Yeah, I could see myself living in Charleston, South Carolina. Probably sitting in a rocker or in a swing on a front porch with a glass of diabetic coma-inducing sweet tea.

I didn’t love it at first, but it’s grown on me. All the historic buildings and really old homes (as in as far back as the early 1700′s kind of old) have a charm all their own that gets into your blood after a while.

I particularly loved walking on Tradd Street and thinking it looked this way over 200 years ago. That boggled the mind. At least my mind, anyway.

There’s too much to see and do and experience for just one trip, so I will be going back. Soon, I hope. I hope I don’t sound crazy or in need of further medication when I say I love the smell of the place. Kind of a smell of a long history mixed with the sweet decay of old buildings.

Definitely take a good camera with you if you go and keep your eyes open at all times for those photographic moments. I took probably close to 200 pics while I was down there.

I love the fact that a lot of the front doors lead to the front porch (or I guess it would be the side porch if you think about it). I love all the brick walls with iron gates and wooden doors. I felt like I was peeking into Lothlorien or into Narnia when I squinted through the iron bars.

If you go, definitely go to Jestine’s Kitchen. It is worth whatever time you spend waiting in line. Check out the old church buildings, especially the St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, where George Washington attended when he visited the city. It is like stepping into Revolutionary War-era history.

Thanks to my friends who suggested all the dining places and sight-seeing places. I owe you one someday.

 

Turning the big 4-Uh-Oh

In less than six days, I turn 40.

Yes, I’ve heard that 40 is the new 20, and 20 is the new 10. I guess that makes 10 the new embryo.

I’m gonna be 40. Right now, I think I’m in denial. I’ve been telling everyone I am celebrating the 15th anniversary of my 25th birthday, which is true and sounds less ominous that the dreaded “turning 40.”

Am I where I thought I would be at 40? Not even close.

I’m not married. Or engaged. Or dating. Or even remotely close to dating (I’ve always heard that for dating to work you need to not only be attracted to someone, but that someone should also be attraced back. Funny how that always seems to be the case.)

Sometimes, if I let myself think about how far off-course I am from where I envisioned myself, it’s enough to make me uber-bummed.

But as I was reminded this week, God’s ways are not my ways and His thoughts are not my thoughts. As far as the heavens are above the earth, so His thoughts are that much higher than mine.

I see only a tiny part of the picture while He sees the whole thing. He knows where I need to be and He knows how to get me there when I am good and ready, and not one second before then.

Daily, it’s a fight to seek first the Kingdom of God and not my own itinerary. It’s hard to keep trusting in God when He leads me contrary to where everything in me tells me I should go.

Still, I know that even though I don’t know the way or how I will get there, I can trust the One leading me. I can look back at His proven track record and know that He’s got me.

I’m in Good Hands.

Good Driving in the Dark Music

I was driving home from downtown Franklin again tonight and I had to have the right nighttime driving music. Not just any music will do for me. It has to fit the mood of a summer night with or without the window rolled down (the windows were up tonight because of the humidity).

I went with Gillian Welch’s new album, The Harrow & The Harvest. It’s a wonderful album to play through while driving in the car. It has a deliberately slow and easy gait, a lazy summer day kind of rhythm, to it. The way Gillain and David Rawling’s voices mesh, the way the sparse accompaniment makes the music feel intimate, makes it perfect for driving alone in the dark.

I don’t ususally want fast and loud late at night. I want mellow and subdued. I want pensive, thoughtful lyrics with a sound that calms me down without putting me to sleep.

For me, I’ve found a few albums that qualify. Lori McKenna’s Lorraine, Don McLean’s American Pie, Eastmountainsouth’s self-titled album, or anything by Peter Bradley Adams, Over the Rhine, Gillian Welch or The Sundays will do. There are others, both old and new, that span countless genres. I’m not so much looking for a particular style of music, I just want a kind of mood or feeling from it.

What music brings you home at night? I realize most people probably just let the radio pick their music. Most people probably don’t even pay attention to the music coming from the car speakers. But there are probably a few of you who are more deliberate in your nocturnal musical selections. Like me.

PS I do like listening to Delilah at night. She always had a friendly voice and plays good songs and gives sound advice. Sometimes, though, the drive home needs a soundtrack that is more personal and less top-40 radio-friendly. Like tonight.

PPS Anything by Gillian Welch and/or David Rawlings will do for night driving.

This is Your Brain on Tylenol Sinus Nighttime Medicine

I have oddly disconnected and random thoughts tonight. Such as:

1) Both Sarah Palin and Nancy Pelosi get on my nerves, so I guess that makes me an Independent. I think I’d rather vote for Marge Simpson.

2) As my boss said, “Anyday without a toe tag is a good day.” I made it through another day still alive and kicking with all my extremeties and all my teeth, so I’d call it a good day.

3) I heard a pastor talk about how you go to someone’s funeral and say how they look natural. As if that person slept in a coffin every day of his life.

4) I know reality TV is in, but I still like my television to be as unrealistic as possible. Give me vampires, ghosts, aliens, and Buffy any day over survivors and batchelorettes. I get enough reality from real life.

5) Diet Mountain Dew is a great invention. At 7:30 in the morning, it is a Godsend.

6) I like the new morning show on Way-FM, but I still miss Mornings with Brant. Especially Malarkey. I miss that most.

7) I found my cat Lucy taking a nap on my suitcase underneath the bed this morning. I think she doesn’t want me going on any more trips this year. Either that or she wants to go, too.

8) Lucy the aforementioned cat is named after Lucy from The Chronicles of Narnia, in case you wondered.

9) This Tylenol Sinus Nighttime stuff works. I am uber-sleepy. Good night.

Fun Times at Nashville International Airport

I recently did something I haven’t done since I was four. I flew in an airplane. As opposed to the other ways of flying. Things have changed a bit since I last flew back in 1976. Just a little.

On my way through the inspection part, I got pulled out of line and patted down in public (awkward). They also searched my luggage and took my shampoo. Really?

What was I going to do? Break into the cockpit and wash the flight crew’s hair? Or if I were especially nefarious, I might rinse and repeat. I am such a suspicious looking character, after all. You never know what I might do at any moment, like take a nap or break into 80′s song. You just never know.

I did get to see a sunset from 23,000 feet. That just about made up for the loss of shampoo. Words fail to describe how gloriously beautiful it was.

Next time I fly, I am taking a smaller bottle of shampoo. Maybe like the microscopic sample they gave me at the hotel. Definely not the $15 bottle of Biolage that I use for Screech-prevention, to keep my hair from looking like Screech’s from Saved by the Bell.

And by the way, as the picture above attests, I think my cat didn’t miss me too terribly much. She was too busy napping to notice I was gone.

Oh, did I mention my luggage got searched again on the way back home? I am just so very lucky.