Sunday, July 17, 2011

Bucket List

Life is filled with day to day, the mundane challenges that consume us.  While we move through these day to day hurdles the mind has a funny way of adding new challenges to our psyche.

I like to think these challenges created in our minds are part of our bucket lists... the things we aspire to before we move on to our next life.   Bucket lists are funny things, they are often very personal, private, sometimes far fetched, sometimes simple... always individual.

My bucket list is extremely diverse, I want to attend the Winter Olympics, I want to sing a song on a Broadway stage, I want to visit Australia and scuba dive on the Great Barrier Reef.  I want to hike the Grand Canyon, walk the red carpet at the Academy Awards and publish a novel.... like I said, diverse. These are just a few of the items on my "list."

I admire people who check off things on their list, my niece Chelsea has really done an amazing job of checking off items on her list.  Some things are easier than others to check off, some just take the nerve to make it happen, sometimes you just need a good kick in the pants to say... go for it... that is the stage in my life that I find myself.

As a middle aged, overweight, bald man it is easy to sit back and let life pass you by.  Work is great, I love my house, have amazing friends and family, enjoy my position as Vice-Mayor and find myself watching life pass me by.  It is time for a quick kick in the butt.... this Friday that kick will happen.

Over the winter, Zack, Chelsea, Sam and I were having a conversation and realized that sky-diving is on all our bucket lists.  Sky-diving... 47 years old, overweight, bald.... life passing me by... yep, that sounds like the perfect kick in the butt that I need.

During our initial conversation back in the winter we decided to jump together, a family outing.  Reservations have been made and good Lord willing, this Friday, July 22nd, I will step out of a plane with a perfect stranger strapped to my back and float through the heavens and safely down to earth. 

Skydiving... ok, sure I could have made reservations to go to the US Figure Skating Championships, yes, that is on the list.  I could have taken scuba lessons, yes, that is on the list.  I could have spent an entire weekend riding roller coasters, yes that's on the list too.... HOWEVER, would any of those things been the kick in the butt that this middle aged, bald, overweight guy needs to get out and stop letting life pass me by... I don't think so.

It's time and I hope this leap of faith will help change my psyche.

As I have told my friends about the jump, many have looked at me in disbelief.  Some have questioned my mental capacity to manage my own life moving forward, others have just looked at me like I am crazy and some have even come right out and called me crazy.  I have heard story after story of how my friend's neighbors, uncle's, wife was sucked up into a cloud and never seen again after she jumped. 

I admit it, sky-diving may not be the smartest thing in the world to be doing.  But is letting life pass me by any better?   I don't think so, I think it is time for a good kick in the butt, it's time to live a little and cross off a MAJOR item on the bucket list.

Friday, July 1, 2011

Elivs has left the building...

Often times we mark the seasons of our lives by where we were when history happens.  I wasn't born when JFK was shot, but daddy tells the story of walking across the lawn of Wilcox County High School and hearing the news.

Mama was at home sick on the day Reagan was shot, she called the school to let Mrs. Snyder know, who passed on the word to the Principal who passed it on to us. 

I was in Mrs. Weatherly's class when Frank D. Smith died, he was my Elementary School Principal and beloved by so many.

I stood in the living room of my friend Pam Suttle's apartment in Statesboro, GA as we watched the Space Shuttle blow up killing all on board.  We left the television to go to an Editorial Writing class, where our instructor Ernie made us write an editorial memorializing the astronauts.  I thought the assignment was unfair at the time, not much later I realized that was the job of the editorialist, a lesson I learned when I least expected it.

I was on a bus returning from a band competition when I heard about Belushi's OD.  I was recovering from foot surgery when I heard about Versace and later Princess Diana.  Eating dinner when Michael Jackson died. 

I was in the break room of Carey Limousine when the OJ verdict was announced.  I was in Centennial Park just hours before the bomb went off and on the phone with mama when the first plane hit the Twin Towers.

These moments of our lives are ingrained and for some reason we know exactly where we were and what we were doing when we first heard the news. 

During the Summer of 1977, I was 13 years old and preparing to go into 7th grade.  The sleepy days of August were about to be turned upside down by a scream from Becky Ramey, a scream that was echoed around the globe.... "ELVIS IS DEAD!"

Becky was the Rogers' baby-sitter.  Today, Becky would be called the nanny;  back then she was the baby  sitter while Mr. and Mrs. Rogers were at work. 

On that late August afternoon, Becky's scream echoed through our quiet neighborhood creating a frenzy of activity that would continue for several days.

I didn't realize Elvis was such a big deal, I knew he was a singer and all, but really within minutes of the announcement that he had died, grown women and some men started acting like a close relative had been lost. 

Television news showed scenes of grieving fans from around the world mourning.... especially in Memphis, Graceland, the home of Elvis.

Little did I know how soon that mourning would hit home.  When Becky left that afternoon she didn't return for almost a week.  She returned after making her pilgrimage to Graceland for the Elvis funeral.

Becky's mother was a HUGE Elvis fan and his death was especially hard for her, so that night she and some friends along with Becky took off for Memphis for the King's funeral. 

The pilgrimage continued as Gracie, our friend from south Georgia, along with her friends showed up at our house late that night.  There for a stop over, long enough to get a quick night's sleep before moving on to Graceland. 

As the days continued hundreds of thousands of people from around the World descended on Memphis.  Television cameras were trained on the action as huge lines formed to view the casket.  Television cameras carried the funeral and burial, it was all Elvis all the time.

After the funeral and burial, the throngs left the King behind, returning to their homes with a heavy heart.  We heard stories from those who went to Graceland about how moving it was.

The pillars of the fence surrounding his home was covered with written condolences, written in magic marker or chalk, fans just wanted to leave their mark on the event.

Somewhere on that fence there are notes from Rochelle and Clayton, GA, I have no idea what they say, but I can tell you they were left by women who loved their Elvis and were broken hearted when he died. 

The summer of 1977, one of those moments I will always remember where I was.  The summer when Elvis left the building for good.