I had originally titled this Bloggers Block, because that was what I had. Then I decided to take a walk and I heard a song that reminded me of a dear friend who has passed on. Granted, Dale was Frank’s childhood friend, but he was one of those guys you met and either instantly liked or hated. Usually people liked him. He was bright, funny and had an excellent sense of humor. One of the best qualities about Dale was that he was brutally honest with himself. He knew who he was, understood his flaws and took responsibility for them.
Dale like to LIVE. By that, I mean he was someone who wanted to taste it all, see it all and do it all. He enjoyed food and drink, women and adrenaline. He used to participate in demolition derby’s in his younger years and never failed to have some kind of exciting and awesome story to tell. He did like to gamble, loved his toys and living this lifestyle, he amassed a bit of debt. He never blamed anyone but himself for his debt and never put it on anyone else. Dale worked as many jobs as he could to pay every penny back and even if he was having his kneecaps threatened by Bruno, he’d still pay you the 5.00 he borrowed when he said he would. ( I don’t think he ever really had anyone threaten him, but I wouldn’t be surprised to find out he did.)
Dale wrote poetry. I still have it. Sometimes it was the typical angst poetry of the teen years and sometimes it was funny. I’ve kept it in my dresser drawer for years now and every now and then I go and read some of it.
Ever the gentleman, tall, blond with sparkling blue eyes and a shy by easy smile, he was never lacking for the ladies, but for some reason, never had good luck keeping them. I guess the toys, the adrenaline fixes and working multiple jobs made it difficult to keep a relationship going.
Dale and I used to talk on the phone for hours. About nothing and everything.
A few years ago, he suddenly felt ill. He thought it was just a case of the flu and decided to wait it out… after 24 hours and a steady decline, he was taken to the hospital emergency room, where they quickly admitted him and before another 24 hours had passed, he was gone from a full body internal staph infection. Boom… just like that.
Frank got the phone call. He was devastated. How could Dale be gone… he was only in his early 30’s? The boy who had bowled with him during their teen years. I remember meeting Dale when he was 15 or so, when I went with Frank to a bowling banquet… all those long years ago. I also remember him catching the garter at my wedding and refusing to complete the tradition of sliding it up the leg of the female who had caught the bouquet. Since it was Frank’s widowed mother who had caught it, I couldn’t really blame the 17 year old Dale for not wanting to honor that particular tradition!
Dale also loved music and one artist he really enjoyed was Howard Jones. I hadn’t really heard of Howard Jones until I talked to Dale and he had me listen to some of his songs. So today, as I walked my mile to clear my head and get some much needed exercise, Howard Jones came on my Mp3 player- he often does, even tho I only have 2 songs on there by him and it’s a 1 gig player with tons of stuff on there!!
By the way, I could always just upload my music clips to the server and then post them here without video, because really all I’m interested is the MUSIC content and not necessarily the video portion, but I was recently told that we are going to have to be careful with large files on our new server space, so I figured I’d just use a YouTube clip if I can find one. Feel free to close your eyes and just listen to the piece of music I pick so that the visual doesn’t interfere with the message. In fact I encourage it!!
Here are the lyrics:
Life in one day
The old man said to me
Said don't always take life so seriously
Play the flute
And dance and sing your song
Try and enjoy the here and now
The future will take care of itself somehow
The grass is never greener over there
Time will wear away the stone
Gets the hereditary bone
CHORUS:
Don't try to live your life in one day
Don't go speed your time away
Don't try to live your life in one day
Don't go speed your time away
The old man said to me
Said you can't change the world single handedly
Raise a glass enjoy the scenery
Pretend the water is champagne
And fill my glass again and again
While the wolves are gathering round your door
Time will wear away the stone
Gets the hereditary bone
CHORUS
The old man said to me
Said don't always take life so seriously
Play the flute
And dance and sing your song
Try and enjoy the here and now
The future will take care of itself somehow
The grass is never greener over there
Time will wear away the stone
Gets the hereditary bone
I tried to live my life in one day
Don't go speed your time away
I bit off more than I can chew
Only so much you can do
Wolves are gathering round my door
Ask them in and invite some more
I tried to live my life in one day
Don't go speed your time away
Don't try to live your life in one day
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The clip I did find has some blips and voice overs in it. It was supposed to since this is the way the original music video went. It can be annoying, so I apologize in advance. If I ever find a better clip, I’ll replace this one!!
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That said, here is the song that makes me smile, reminds me of Dale and that I consider a friendly hello and message from an old friend.
Snippets and Tidbits 