Of Books And Music

The weeks just keep rolling by faster and faster. It’s hard to believe we’re already looking at the end of January. Wasn’t it just yesterday that we did the great New year’s celebration?

I hope everyone has had a productive and pleasant week, and you’re ready for some weekend relaxation.

My weekend is going to be low-key. Today, I’ll be spending much of the day with my youngest daughter, and there may be some coloring involved. We like to get together when we can to have some fun with creativity.

Tomorrow will be a rather quiet day, and then Sunday I’ll gather with my church choir for a very late Christmas party. We have a potluck lunch and fellowship and it is always great fun. We figure it’s never too late for a party. 🙂

FRIDAY READS 

The middle of last week I picked up a book by Susan Mary Malone, I Just Came Here to Dance. The title intrigue me, mainly because I love to dance, and I bought the book even though I had no idea what the story was going to be about. I read the sample pages on Amazon and was hooked by the author’s voice and the voice of the main character, Paula Anne Fairbanks.

The opening line, “Some folks said I went crazy that summer,” pulled me into the story, and I just had to find out what happened to Paula Anne that fateful summer. The story is nothing like what I expected, but what a story it is. It’s charming and mystical with undercurrents of harshness as relentless as the late-August Texas sun that bakes the earth and anything walking upon the earth.

I Know Those Kinds of Texas Summers

Paula’s life is ripped apart when her husband, Marty, takes up with her best friend, Melinda, but their’s is not the only love triangle. There’s also one between Diana, who has been called the White Witch of Sociable, Texas, and Paula’s mother and father. The way these people and their relationships come together, pull apart, come together again, much like a dance, makes for a very compelling read as they all search for a greater understanding of themselves and how their “self” fits into this complicated world.

This is not a story to be read quickly. I suggest taking time to savor the wonderful characters, the unique descriptions, the humor that abounds, and the truths that the story conveys.

You won’t be disappointed.

FRIDAY WISDOM

While driving home from running some errands yesterday, the song “Humble and Kind” by Tim McGraw came on my radio. The song was originally released in 2016 on Tim’s album DAMN COUNTRY MUSIC, but since I rarely listen to my car radio, or any radio, I missed this wonderful song when it first came out.

While the whole song has a great message, the one line in particular that caught my attention was, “Know the difference between sleeping with someone and sleeping with someone you love.”

That line resonated with me probably because even though it is not the modern way of thinking about sex, I’ve always thought there needed to be more to it then just satisfying a base hunger.

Quite a long time ago I wrote an article about the fact that we shouldn’t look at this wonderful act of intimacy as something casual and cavalier, like having a great dessert at the end of a dinner. If it never holds anything special in our minds, how can it ever be that special something we share with the person we love?

You know what? I still feel that way.  I’m not judging others, and I’m not trying to impose my morality on anyone else. This is just my viewpoint. What do you think?

Okay, that’s it for me folks. I do hope you check out the book and the music. I think you’ll like them both. Have a great weekend. Be Safe. Be happy.