More Random Notes

Everyone has someone famous in their family. We have two country music stars in ours. First, Paul Overstreet is a distant cousin thru some California relations. He wrote the song that Alison Krauss made so famous, “When You Say Nothing At All,” which is either one of the all-time greatest love songs, or the sweetest way to tell someone to be quiet… The other music star is Gretchen Wilson. She’s my aunt, and I guess she won’t care if I tell you her real name is Melinda Stewart. She thought Gretchen Wilson was a name that matched her hard-living style a little better.

John and Joseph told me I had to go back to Daddy School. They say that when I ask them if a treat was good or not. That is, I don’t need to ask if a blizzard or a doughnut is good. The answer is obvious, and I should have learned that in Daddy School. Today they told me that another thing they should teach in Daddy School is that “babies are supposed to have fun, not Daddies.” I asked them what I was supposed to do. “Take us places to have fun!”

John and Joe both want a little sister. They make out like they want one to be nice to, but I really think they want someone to experiment on. Anyway, they started bugging me about that in the pool a few nights ago. I told them that I didn’t see it happening. I didn’t give a reason, but Joe said, “because Mommy is with Jesus, right?” Then John piped up with an idea. “Maybe Mammaw can ask God for a baby sister, and then we’ll take her after that…”

John had a really hard time this morning. Nothing was right. I keep trying to talk to him about making good choices in the morning, at the beginning of the day. Don’t freak out if something bad happens. Or don’t make negative comments about every thing. If you start out with a negative attitude, the rest of the day will be bad. Almost always, it’s about good choices in the morning. Today, I had to practice what I preach! It was very tempting, was at the point where it would have been very easy to add to the problem by getting angry. I’d be letting something negative drag me down. We stopped and prayed, and ha! it actually worked! If I can’t show how to do it by example, I can at least make sure I don’t add to his difficulty. After a while, things calmed down. It doesn’t always go that way. Doesn’t mostly, because I’ll get frustrated and I have places to go, etc… I think we all have these kinds of days, and I hope that we can make better choices at the moment, discipline ourselves to not react.

I have been lamenting how gray my hair is getting. This past month, my moustache is being infiltrated. Oh well. It doesn’t really bother me, I laugh about it and complain mostly to laugh about it. But Guy Moyer, a good friend, was worried about me and gave me his advice, what has been working for him. He says if you use Grecian Formula on your hair, it only works halfway. That is, it just colors the hair. The trick, he says, is to drink it as well. That way, the hair that grows out, grows out dark.