Monday Mimisms ~ Moves Like Jagger

Mist forming on a lonely highway. The smell of fresh rain. On my way to pick up grandson #2 (aka Beans) I stopped for a quick drive-thru iced tea at one of my favorite places. The ice is crushed. The tea is perfect. I had plenty of time and I knew my boy would want french fries and ketchup on the side. Back on the highway, I leisurely drove into clouds and rain, sipping my tea. Along about the third curve towards town, torrents of heavy rain began to pitter patter beat on the windshield. Concentrate, Mimi, concentrate...It's just a little rain. Put down the tea....the tea. And then it happened. It was the ice, you see. Crushed. Perfect. Just like she wanted. My hands cupped the glass and I saw her hands...Mama

When we would go shopping on Saturdays, she loved to stop and get crushed ice with sweet tea. It made her happy.    "I miss my mama," cried my heart and then out loud in a storm-soaked vehicle, driving into rain, through rain, becoming rain Oh God, I miss my mama.  I was a complete unexpected mess. The  floodgates opened and would.not.stop, keeping time with the windshield wipers and mixing in the clouds. We were as different as pumpkins and peonies, but today I just wanted to have tea with her and talk about dress shops and flower beds. The sobs came out of nowhere, unlike the stoic resolve I manage to maintain on a usual day....and I could not make them stop. I haven't written much about her since she passed in 2019. Her death was sudden. The aftermath vile and wholly undignified. She didn't deserve the end she was dealt and it was more grief than I could process. 

Beans climbed in the car, eager to spend a week with me, with a what-is-wrong-with-you-Mimi look and why is your mascara running question. No answer. I was spent. Then something amazing and brilliant and fascinating happened.Because he's been permanently banned from cellphones (long sad story for another day oh.the.drama) he did the only thing a phone deprived pre-teen could do.He reached for the radio. "How does this work?" he asked.
Do you know how quickly tears can turn to laughter? I nearly spun into a ditch trying to teach him how to use the dials. And this boy, who always somehow knows just what I need when I need it, turned the volume up to sonic boom, rolled the windows down just for kicks and set the controls on automatic scan. Who taught him to increase the bass? THUMP THUMP through neighborhoods we cruised. I'm sure it could be heard at the International Space Station.    Every ten seconds or so, the music would change from rap to classical to gospel to inappropriate wordy rap (giggles) to talk radio to strings and usually back to very loud rap music. We put on very large rockstar sunglasses and changed our mood and facial expressions to match whatever played. It was hysterical...well...to us...and every neighborhood we passed through as well, including the squirrels and cows and birds trying to catch a glimpse into the runaway rogue mess of a gyrating car we were in.  Until...

Maroon 5 began to sing "Moves Like Jagger"... Stop! Stop it right there! Beans began to bounce. The car bounced. I bounced. My shoulders twitched from side-to-side. My toes tapped on the floorboard and his feet moved on the dashboard. I conducted with one hand (who conducts Mick Jagger?) and drove with the other.  We sang at the top of our lungs as he masterfully executed the washing machine dance in the passenger seat while I crazily snapped my fingers to the beat and banged my head around like a teenager on the sidelines at a Beatles concert. (Yes, I was still driving, my Bloggy People) The clouds were dancing. Mama was dancing. Tea was spilling. Love was flowing.

I forgot all about mascara on my face and why I was crying in the first place. We car danced all the way up the driveway until we stopped for one more look out the rolled-down windows to see how many woodsy creatures we could scare with the Rolling Stones.  I never had a dance partner so brilliant.


The sun came out and we were home. 

 "You just ruined my ears for eternity!" I told him. More laughter. More volume.

Then a loud crushing pain in my heart.

"Nothing is for eternity, my girl," Mama whispered.

 "Everything changes."

And so it does.

Images: Mimi Lenox and Wikimedia Creative Commons
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Saturday Inspiration with Stevie

Lots of history here. Baby boomers are going to love this.

Please vote. 

#blog4peace NOV 4
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Saturday 9 ~ What's Love Got to Do with It?

Thanks to The Gal for hosting this meme.  I always learn something from Gal's meme questions. She sets them up so well.What's Love Got to Do with It? (1984)Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here. 
What's Love Got to Do with It is also the title of Tina Turner's film biography, which tells of Tina's escape from her abusive, controlling husband, Ike. October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Spread the word that help is available. 
1. The video was shot around New York City in spring. Kids are seen jumping rope. Were you good at jump rope? Has it ever been part of your workout routine as an adult?NO and NO and NO

2. In real life, Tina Turner played basketball for her school. Were you good at team sports?
Yes. My dad coached Little League baseball, men's softball league and a girl's softball team. We were always at the ballfield. I could run like the wind in those days with my pigtails flying. I remember him picking me up from the bleachers fast asleep and carrying me to the car. I've done my homework many times on baseball bleachers or in a dugout.
3. In the video, Tina Turner wears a little black dress topped with a denim jacket. That jacket is a fashion staple 36 years later. Do you own a denim jacket?
I do not own a denim jacket. But I know someone who owns a really cool one! Does that count?


4. Tina's first marriage, to Ike Turner, was a painful one. Her second marriage, to German music executive Erwin Bach has been far more supportive. This has been a blessing, since Tina has had serious health problems in recent years. Do you have any medical/dental appointments scheduled?
At the beginning of the pandemic in March, I broke a perfectly good crown biting into a new chocolate recipe I'd created. Too much crunch on the bottom. Do I look happy to you?? Because of the pandemic, they no longer considered this an "emergency" even though I was miserable. I had to wait months to get it fixed (thankfully did!) which started me down a whole rabbit hole of appointments for other things and on and on and on it goes. It never ends! The worst part is dealing with the precautions before you even get in the dreaded chair. I can't believe all this happened to me during a pandemic when the LAST place you want to be is in a dental chair. I. was. terrified. to. even. go. in. Breathe in...breathe out.....breathe in......breathe out....It will be over soon. I hope!
5. Tina met Erwin at Heathrow Airport in 1986. He was there to help her prepare for her London performances. They immediately liked one another, but didn't become romantically involved until months later and were surprised to find themselves falling in love. Have you ever had a romantic relationship that crept up on you?
Yes. And maybe one day I can tell that story here. But not today.

6. The Rolling Stones' Keith Richards referred to Tina as his "favorite aunt." Is there anyone who isn't a relative of yours by blood but you refer to as aunt, uncle, brother, sister, etc?
I have two best friends who are closer to me than my own family. We call each other "sister" all the time. I love these ladies dearly.
7. Former President George W. Bush is also a big Tina Turner fan, and has praised her for having "the most famous legs in show business." What do you believe is your best physical feature?
Well. At the risk of sounding braggy....maybe my hair. That sounded braggy.

8. At home, Tina often doesn't always play music or TV because she appreciates quiet as much as music. What about you? Do you enjoy quiet?
I adore quiet. But my music needs to be loud.
9. Random question: On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being "very lazy" and 10 being "very productive," what number are you?
Definitely a 10.And on a sidenote I'll tell you a story. I've been triggered, I guess, by the word lazy, which doesn't fit my lifestyle or my vocabulary.It got back to me, recently, that one of my now-former friends found out that I've been using grocery pickup since the beginning of the pandemic. Oh, the scandal! I'm diabetic. I'm careful. I'm not taking chances. Not that I should have to explain. She scoffs at social distancing rules, doesn't wear a mask and laughs at those who do, goes to crowded events like that's a bright idea, and thinks anyone who takes these precautions is a "sheeple" (whatever the hell that means). She remarked to someone that my grocery pickup habit is "just pure laziness." It didn't hurt as much as it infuriated me. Then I just felt sorry for her. How could someone I've known for years be so ignorant? So lacking in empathy and common sense? So cruel? So politically blinded?  If I ever see her again I'm going to pretend I don't know her. Because I don't.    God help us all.

Just. wear. the. mask.

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Peace in the Time of Quarantine ~ Announcing Blog 4 Peace NOV 4, 2020

It's time to announce the 2020 upcoming launch of Blog4Peace

Welcome to the 15th year of peace blogging!

Our 2020 theme is Peace in the Time of Quarantine 

Wherever you find your peace during this time....

share it with others. It's time to Blog4Peace. November 4th is the day.

I still find my own peace in the sanctuary of silence, meditation, nature

 and prayer. Living in the days of a global pandemic calls for more and more of whatever brings you to the place you call peace. Where do you find yours?

Music can take me there. I love Natalie Grant's honest emotional performances. Those strings!  That choir!  Recorded with The London Studio Orchestra earlier this year, I was shocked and inspired to see that one of the cellists looks exactly like my Papa, my grandfather, the marble-giver, the one who set my life on a path of discovering peace. Coincidence? Or is it a wink and a nod from Heaven....Papa always leaves me clues. I think this is no different.

  YOU are invited to join us on this inspiring day. People from all over the world will be right there with you. Write about your experiences during the coronavirus pandemic, create and fly a peace globe (like those found HERE) and post on social media, your blog, Twitter, Instagram, wherever you are online.   

We Blog 4 Peace November 4, 2020. Wherever you find your solace in this year of upside-down humanity, please prepare to share it with us. The world needs peace like never before. 

 Peace in the Time of Quarantine

What will your story be? 

Get Your Own Peace Globe

How To Get Your Peace Globe 

Peace Globe Templates (FREE)

Our Facebook Page

The Official Gallery of Peace Globes

My Peace Stories

#blog4peace #NOV4

 It's a launch!  Dona nobis pacem in the blogosphere has begun.

Email  blog4peace@yahoo.com if you have questions. 

Please join us!! 

Join us for BlogBlast For Peace Nov 4 Like Our Facebook Page ~ Peace Store How To Get Your Own Peace Globe"

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Glenn Frey ~ You Better Let Somebody Love You ....

The Eagles framed the soundtrack to my high school years.

They took me down highways and through musical doors that seared into my psyche, influenced my musical choices, helped me form an appreciation for phrasing and lyricism that lasted my whole life.
My friends and I used to sing "Desperado" with the radio on the way home from school. We added harmonies and passionate joy that only comes when teenagers invade the back of a Volkswagen Beetle drinking glass-bottled cokes popping peanuts inside.

I was a freshman and my boyfriend had a car. It was a yellow 1966 Ford Mustang convertible with a stick shift and I loved to drive it. We sang "Peaceful Easy Feeling" (1972) .... "Take It Easy" (1972)..."Lyin' Eyes" (1975 Don Henley/Frey)...so many times in my friend's Volkswagen or in my yellow love bug machine flying down back country roads fifteen minutes past my eleven o'clock curfew. Turning down the music was always the best option when trying to sneak in the driveway unnoticed. It didn't help that the headlights would always shine directly into my parents' bedroom window.   Why is it that his music always brings back memories of carefree high school days with friends....when all that mattered was which song was on the radio?

The music was loud in my generation. But this man's musical soul was gentle. 

His was the voice of soft rock. And we will miss him.

Of all their songs the melody and lyrics that belong to "Desperado" hits me hardest at this time in my life. Don Henley (I adore him!) began writing parts of it in the late '60s but it wasn't arranged until he collaborated with his songwriting teammate Glenn Frey. It was the first of many they co-wrote through the years.

Eagles 1973

Henley explained in the liner notes for The Very Best of the Eagles: "Glenn came over to write one day, and I showed him this unfinished tune that I had been holding for so many years. I said, 'When I play it and sing it, I think of Ray Charles - Ray Charles and Stephen Foster. It's really a Southern gothic thing, but we can easily make it more Western.'  Glenn leapt right on it - filled in the blanks and brought structure. And that was the beginning of our songwriting partnership - that's when we became a team."

These lyrics are timeless. And they speak to me strongly on this day in 2016. The Mustang and the boyfriend long gone. But the message ever poignant to me -

"Your prison is walking through this world all alone.... You better let somebody love you before it's too late."  

 Desperado, why don't you come to your senses?
Come down from your fences, open the gate
It may be rainin', but there's a rainbow above you
You better let somebody love you (let somebody love you)
You better let somebody love you before it's too late
 Full lyrics HERE

We will miss the stories in your songs and the music in your soul.

Rest well. Sing on.

#GlennFrey

Posted by Mimi Lenox on Monday, January 18, 2016

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Day 5 - 7: 30 Days of Love ~ Flaws, Photographs, and Dancing

 
Day 7
Love is when you realize that someone you care about has the same insecurities and flaws as the person looking back at you in the mirror. 

And you choose to let love win the day.

  Day 6 

Listening to McLachlan's Afterglow album.
I think I need to dance with someone tonight. I've forgotten what that's like.
McLachlan is the perfect storm....She is helping me remember.

  Day 5

 Today I spent most of the afternoon and evening with my mother. We are organizing family photos and her shoe closet. We found some photos of my dad and Papa I'd never seen before. All the love and memories came rushing back. I miss both of them so much. It was a good day. Love.


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Day 9: 30 Days of Love ~ Which songs bring you peace?

Day 9: ‪#‎30DaysofLove‬
Love is revisiting an old song, remembering what it means to you, and allowing it to speak in a new way. Tonight it's McLachlan's "Bring On The Wonder"....'Let's rest for awhile 'til our souls catch us up' she sings. 'Bring on the wonder. Bring on the song.'  
 Which songs bring you peace?


Join us. Share something each day that expresses love.
Notice how your life becomes more peaceful as you focus on love.
Hashtag #30DaysofLove
Oct 4 - Nov 4
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Summer Solace ~ Turn It Up

Attending a concert with my brother

There was something in the water works at the beginning of this season. I left my exhausting job temporarily in the dust and vowed to sweep the cobwebs clean. At least for a few months. Have you ever had an unction to do something, not knowing why you're even saying what you're saying, and it turn out to be the beginning of something truly special?
Let me explain.

I needed to rest. But I began to clean. Not just Lysol and broom kinda clean, but inside out clean. Two strong words reverberated in my heart and mind at the beginning of June: Clean and Open. 

So I raked. And tore brush out from under grandpa's bushes. Ripped weeds from under the potting shed, climbed a ladder to clean the roof with spraying soap and water. All the while thinking, "Clean it out. Open it up. Clean it out. Open it up."
 I slowly pressure washed 800 square feet of a wooden deck, board by board, rail by rail and underneath each nook and cranny, breaking not 1, not 2, but 3 machines. A leak would spout in the wrong place, the engine shut down..... but I was undeterred, and determined to finish the big clean. Watching the old melt away and the original new unveiled once again, was therapeutic. The result is beautiful. 

I finally put my downstairs back together. Reaching into packed up decor from the flood of 2011 (aka hot water heater disaster). I found lost artifacts and pictures, cleaned them and displayed them. 
Open. Clean.

The theme didn't stop there. Looking back, I see it everywhere. Not one to buy frivolous things for myself, I walked right into the store at the beginning of summer like a woman on a sacred mission and purchased the best stereo system I could find with speakers loud enough to scare every squirrel within miles. I set it up on top of my piano and opened the windows. McLachlan's "Building A Mystery" was first, then John Mayer's "Continuum" album (Bold Love and In Repair) plus all my old worship CDs from back in the day, especially the mega praise hit "Open The Eyes of My Heart, Lord."  I played them over and over. The lyrics sank deep in my heart.  I danced. I prayed. I sang. The rake took on a whole new rhythm.

I felt like a clean slate.

 I realized things were unraveling in a way I hadn't seen in years.  Whatever the Universe was trying to tell me, I was listening with all my heart. By the end of summer vacation, I'd mended a riff with my mother that I thought would never happen (initiated by her), sought out some aged relatives in a nursing home and made peace and new memories with them (including my delightful 101-year-old first grade teacher), watched my talented brother embark on a new journey of songwriting and service to his church as we deeply reconnected in ways I never imagined, more healing, and continue to be pleasantly surprised as others from my past have reached out to me recently with an honesty I appreciate but never expected. 
Healing. 

Did they call to me or did my willingness to be open draw me to them?

What does all this have to do with raking and pressure washing and dancing in the dark? I don't know. All I know for sure is that once I took the first step in the clearing out process, outside in my yard, I felt some chains fall off.  It was dirty, exhausting, exhilarating, scary work. Dipping into the past and ripping out weeds always is.  The thing is not to be afraid. They're just dead weeds. Jump right in. You can't be afraid of what you take control of. Truth. Clarity. Openness. The result can be a beautiful thing.

 Turn it up.

 

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