My Dad would have been 96 today, in this, the year of the Covid-19 pandemic.
I've been sorting. Sorting memories, sorting mementos, sorting pictures, sorting emotions, and sorting plans for moving forward without him in my life. My first clear memory of my dad would have been when we arrived in Okinawa (my older sister asked me this question just after he died and we were planning the funeral -- it was good to pause and think about this). The Army moved him around a lot ya know. But I do have the photographs and 8mm home movies he made and I do have loving relatives who have told me stories of those years before I was, say, four-years-old.
August 11, 2020, was historic in that Biden chose a VP nominee, Kamala Harris. My 30-year-old daughter spotted the news announcement before I did, told me, and I then passed on the word to my husband in person.
Photo is Garland Crook, 1924, Mississipi. Photographer unknown. The apple of his new parents' eye, no doubt, and the delight of his clan.
Esther Bloomgren of Slope and Bowman counties said, "Time marches on." I heard her say it and I talked to the people who knew her well. Indeed it does. Time will tell what the rest of 2020 has in store.
One version of the backstory on Nanci's songwriting prowess and inspiration for this song is below. The liner notes on her album are a great source, too. This led me to my memories of The Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, which isn't far from Vanderbilt University, and opened in 1982 (I've been there once, in the early 1980s and later I took my husband there on one epic winter road trip). Google "Bluebird Cafe" if you are curious. Meanwhile, enjoy Nanci's song.
Clock Without Hands by Nanci Griffith
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