Another Year of Wedded Joy

No seriously! My wife and I celebrated our 21st anniversary today. Well, we actually went out to dinner last night since we couldn't get childcare for the actual day. It was a great dinner. The food was good and the company was the best! Seriously, I love my wife so much. She just keeps getting better and more amazing every year.
As I reflect back, I really am a blessed. I have a wonderful and beautiful wife who still thrills my soul, four amazing kids, a great job and it looks like this year we might finally be able to buy a house of our own. Its still too early to bet on it but things have come down enough that we just might be able to swing it. After 15+ years of roaming it is nice to finally feel a little settled - to feel a little "grown up."
Yep, I am blessed.

I want to make music again...

A few days ago, I realized how much poorer my life is since I stopped making music. I used to play instruments and sing - almost every day for the first 20 years of my life or so. Now, I only sing in church and in the car - which drives my family nuts - they always turn on the radio. How rude is that!

And I realized I LIKE singing - not just spiritual songs but rock, country, ballads, folk music - heck just about anything. I enjoy how it feels to make music. As a vocalist, I may not be playing the biggest part, but I AM a part of making music. And I miss it horribly. And I wonder how I will ever go about putting it back into my life again. I don't know very many musicians anymore and most of us are in our mid 40s and don't have enough time to keep up w/ the Honey Do List let alone practice and rehearse.

I would love to marry my hobby for dramatic renactment and costuming somehow (having a very finite amount of time but still wanting to keep a hand in those hobbies somehow too) and create a small group of guys (gals too) who could work up a repertoire of 20 or 30 songs, some holiday stuff and some folk/ethnic material and just a few fun ones for the heck of it.

And while I am dreaming big - I would love to be part of a group of 4 or 5 guys who could get together and drink a beer and smoke a cigar once in a while and talk about politics, what we've been reading and the goofy stuff life spits out every day.
Yeah, dreaming big time now. :o(

Being Me...

I've always loved this song - something in it I identify with (Heaven's knows it's not the superman part - I guess its the feeling lost and in a daze and feeling somedays how much it stinks being me...). So, I heard it today while in the car and couldn't resist blogging it. If you are a man, and a father especially, I think you can relate just a little...

Superman
by Five for Fighting
I can’t stand to fly I’m not that naive
I’m just out to find The better part of me

I’m more than a bird...I’m more than a plane
More than some pretty face beside a train
It’s not easy to be me

Wish that I could cry Fall upon my knees
Find a way to lie About a home I’ll never see

It may sound absurd...but don’t be naive
Even heroes have the right to bleed
I may be disturbed...but won’t you concede
Even heroes have the right to dream
It’s not easy to be me

Up, up and away...away from me
It’s all right...you can all sleep sound tonight
I’m not crazy...or anything...

I can’t stand to fly I’m not that naive
Men weren’t meant to ride With clouds between their knees

I’m only a man in a silly red sheet
Digging for kryptonite on this one way street
Only a man in a funny red sheet
Looking for special things inside of me
Inside of me Inside me
Yeah, inside me Inside of me

I’m only a man In a funny red sheet
I’m only a man Looking for a dream

I’m only a man In a funny red sheet
And it’s not easy, hmmm, hmmm, hmmm...
It’s not easy to be me