The song my son listens to that goes, “I love my body the way it is!”
“Gimme Shelter” by the Rolling Stones
“In the Air Tonight” by Phil Collins
That YouTube clip with the twenty-something twin brothers hearing #12 for the first time and flipping out in delight when it gets to the signature drum part towards the end
How that changed my own perception of the song, helped me see (hear) what I took for granted about it
How songs are more than a part of the soundtrack of an individual’s (or collective demographic’s) life and times, more than nostalgia or mnemonic devices
When the aforementioned twin brothers heard Dolly Parton, Stevie Wonder, Whitney Houston, Johnny Cash, Nina Simone, Janis Joplin (et al) for the first time too
How all culture gets buried in time
How the best of us meet what we don’t know with curiosity, empathy, delight
Stew beans for lunch
Stew beans for dinner
#17 + #18 on the very same day
When, for no particular reason, my son said, “Thank you very much,” taking pains to articulate each syllable
That thing I just wrote about my mom and me and the ants
County Road 26 between Columbiana and Alabaster in Shelby County, Alabama
My given first name
The prospect of grilling hot dogs this Saturday
“Lake Marie” by John Prine
Particularly the line about how the Italian sausages were sizzlin’ on the grill
How weird a song “Lake Marie” is, how boldly, radically, confidently weird it is — how comfortable in its own skin that song is
