Thursday, October 7, 2010

There's too many memories for one heart to hold



Current mood:  blessed
This last week was a rough one for the A-Town. On Wednesday, Poodie Locke, Willie's roadie of 30 plus years, passed away of a heart attack. Thursday writer, Bud Shrake passed away due to cancer. On Friday emails, Facebook, Twitter and cell phones were buzzing. There were speculations of an impending third death because as we all know, death always comes in threes. The hormones were all hoping that surely the first death was Lana's 15 year old dog, Oscar, then Poodie, then Bud. Right? But no. I logged onto Facebook at around 11 am on Saturday and the first thing I read was "RIP Stephen Bruton." Dammit!  Now we have lost one of Austin's best guitarist/song writers to cancer.

May is supposed to be a joyous time for me. Not only is it my birth month but at least a dozen of my closest friends are born on the same day or within a few days of my birthday. All of a sudden, I didn't feel like much of a party girl. Then Saturday afternoon as the party for my niece, Cayce's, graduation neared I was reminded that life goes on. I pulled myself together, put on my party dress and lipstick, in the typical Hormone fashion and sucked it up. When I arrived, Cayce was wearing a dress much like the Mexican dress that I had worn to Nashville when the Hormones went to see Willie play in 1982. Mario, who is usually walking around in one of Nita's 1980s Willie T-Shirts, was playing my old Kris and Rita album with Stephen Bruton on guitar. Later he and Tony played a few songs together. These are the things that serve as constant reminders that as we get older, we serve as teachers to the younger generation so that we can pass the torch to them. When Mario put on Cayce's cap and we joked that not only had Cayce graduated but so had Nita and Mario because of the group effort I was reminded of how much we need each other. In my optimistic mind four people graduated that day. Cayce, Nita, Mario graduated from St Ed's and Stephen graduated from this big ol' goofy world.

Sunday was Sarah Elizabeth's birthday party. Then Monday birthdays were celebrated at Artz with Sarah Elizabeth and the Banded performing followed by Chris Gage and friends at Donn's Depot. Then Tuesday was a huge May 12 birthday bash for Cash, Sherry and me. I was certain that I would be home in bed by 10 pm because the party started at 6 pm. I was surprised that at 3 am Slim, Tony, Sarah and Marcia were still playing music and we were trying to talk Sarah into going home with Marcia instead of driving across town after several glasses of wine. At 3:15 we arrived home and Tony fell asleep mid-sentence and I was so hyped up on adrenalin and green tea I was up until 4:30 on Facebook. Needless to say yesterday I was useless.

Each of these parties were joyous occasions yet sadness and discussion of the human condition seeped into conversations throughout the week serving as a constant reminder that life is a journey, not a destination. A journey full of lessons. We aren't here to judge each other's journey because none of us are totally aware of each others lessons. Yesterday I was reminded of how blessed I am when my 2 year old grandson in St Louis called me from the hospital before his surgery to sing "Happy Birthday" to me and then my 12 year old grandson baked me a chocolate birthday cake. Life doesn't get any better than that. Ever. I am blessed and if I graduate tomorrow from this big ol' goofy world I will be happy to say I did it all. If I get another 30 years, that will be cool too. Who know why some of us get to graduate sooner than others. My advise on this journey is to treat those you love like you are in the senior class of this journey. You don't know when you may get to graduate.


What makes you grow old is replacing hope with regret
~ Stephen Bruton

Current mood:  blessed
This last week was a rough one for the A-Town. On Wednesday, Poodie Locke, Willie's roadie of 30 plus years, passed away of a heart attack. Thursday writer, Bud Shrake passed away due to cancer. On Friday emails, Facebook, Twitter and cell phones were buzzing. There were speculations of an impending third death because as we all know, death always comes in threes. The hormones were all hoping that surely the first death was Lana's 15 year old dog, Oscar, then Poodie, then Bud. Right? But no. I logged onto Facebook at around 11 am on Saturday and the first thing I read was "RIP Stephen Bruton." Dammit!  Now we have lost one of Austin's best guitarist/song writers to cancer.

May is supposed to be a joyous time for me. Not only is it my birth month but at least a dozen of my closest friends are born on the same day or within a few days of my birthday. All of a sudden, I didn't feel like much of a party girl. Then Saturday afternoon as the party for my niece, Cayce's, graduation neared I was reminded that life goes on. I pulled myself together, put on my party dress and lipstick, in the typical Hormone fashion and sucked it up. When I arrived, Cayce was wearing a dress much like the Mexican dress that I had worn to Nashville when the Hormones went to see Willie play in 1982. Mario, who is usually walking around in one of Nita's 1980s Willie T-Shirts, was playing my old Kris and Rita album with Stephen Bruton on guitar. Later he and Tony played a few songs together. These are the things that serve as constant reminders that as we get older, we serve as teachers to the younger generation so that we can pass the torch to them. When Mario put on Cayce's cap and we joked that not only had Cayce graduated but so had Nita and Mario because of the group effort I was reminded of how much we need each other. In my optimistic mind four people graduated that day. Cayce, Nita, Mario graduated from St Ed's and Stephen graduated from this big ol' goofy world.

Sunday was Sarah Elizabeth's birthday party. Then Monday birthdays were celebrated at Artz with Sarah Elizabeth and the Banded performing followed by Chris Gage and friends at Donn's Depot. Then Tuesday was a huge May 12 birthday bash for Cash, Sherry and me. I was certain that I would be home in bed by 10 pm because the party started at 6 pm. I was surprised that at 3 am Slim, Tony, Sarah and Marcia were still playing music and we were trying to talk Sarah into going home with Marcia instead of driving across town after several glasses of wine. At 3:15 we arrived home and Tony fell asleep mid-sentence and I was so hyped up on adrenalin and green tea I was up until 4:30 on Facebook. Needless to say yesterday I was useless.

Each of these parties were joyous occasions yet sadness and discussion of the human condition seeped into conversations throughout the week serving as a constant reminder that life is a journey, not a destination. A journey full of lessons. We aren't here to judge each other's journey because none of us are totally aware of each others lessons. Yesterday I was reminded of how blessed I am when my 2 year old grandson in St Louis called me from the hospital before his surgery to sing "Happy Birthday" to me and then my 12 year old grandson baked me a chocolate birthday cake. Life doesn't get any better than that. Ever. I am blessed and if I graduate tomorrow from this big ol' goofy world I will be happy to say I did it all. If I get another 30 years, that will be cool too. Who know why some of us get to graduate sooner than others. My advise on this journey is to treat those you love like you are in the senior class of this journey. You don't know when you may get to graduate.


What makes you grow old is replacing hope with regret
~ Stephen Bruton





I remember this town with a love by my side
And a peace seldom felt in this day and time
And it gets melancholy every now and again
When you let your mind go and it drifts way back when
Life plays it's tricks, some cruel but fair
And even a fool can pretend they don't care

When there's too many memories for one heart to hold
Once a future so bright now seems so distant and cold
And the shadows grow long and your eyes look so old
When there's too many memories for one heart to hold

There are those moments and they just never fade
The look in his eyes and the way the light played
God moved in that moment and the angels all cried
And they gave you a memory that you have till you die
And the lessons you learn and you don't forget
What makes you grow old is replacing hope with regret

When there's too many memories for one heart to hold
Once a future so bright now seems so distant and cold
And the shadows grow long and your eyes look so old
When there's too many memories for one heart to hold

When there's too many memories for one heart to hold
Once a future so bright now seems so distant and cold
And the shadows grow long and your eyes look so old
When there's too many memories for one heart to hold

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