Hurry!  Get inside, I'm so glad you got here safe and sound!  I'll take those, just shut the door.  Watch the towels on the floor...no, it's not your fault the carpet's wet, it's been soaked all night.  There's a leak around the door anyway when it's a wind driven rain like this.  I keep saying I'll get it looked at, but then the sun comes out and I kinda put it off.  Just throw your wet stuff over there, in the laundry room.  That's good, yes, right there.  Thanks.

Whew!  Want a drink?  I'll bet.  I've got to say that I really appreciate ya'll stopping by tonight.  Thank goodness you're close by and didn't have to drive in this mess too far.  You know the rules - if it's not safe to head for home when the time comes, you've got a home here.  No need to leave.  Sorry!  Almost forgot that drink.  What was it again?  Wine, beer....oh really.  Like I have that recipe on hand.  Cool, come with me then, you don't want me trying that by myself.

A Southern phrase - it's pouring buckets outside.  The wind is circling the water, screaming at the raindrops and demanding equal attention.  Every minute or so the thunder negates the effort of the wind and the lightening trumps them all.  The thunder shakes our foundations.  The lightening illuminates our fear, and wonder.  Not necessarily in that order.

There go the lights.  I know!  Smart, huh?  And you thought the candlelight was just for ambiance.  What about the ice filled coolers ready for bottles?  I'm amazing, and will accept genuflecting at your leisure.  What?  Well, that's just not nice.  Who threw that?

No soft music in the background.  There's a crescendo of nature and power promising to overcome us with pure sound and fury.  The lights aren't low.  There's another electricity pulsating with excitement and grandeur.  Fireworks on the twelfth of July.  Geogeous in the synchronicity.

Guess we'll have to talk to each other.  Luckily, we're not only good at it, we like it.  It even feels like we're closer tonight than on an average night.  Must be the weather.  By the way, when the sun comes out tomorrow (don't you dare) someone remind me to get that front door looked at.  It's ruining the carpet.

Sorry, I missed that over the thunder.  What did you say?

Come in, come in.  Has it been a long day?  TGIF and all that...care for a beverage?

Some will toil this weekend like the days of the week are identical.  Lots and lots of folks.  The highly unappreciated and indispensable workforce.  Only good thing for some is to smile widely when getting the table of their choice with no wait on a Wednesday night. 

Others will take a well deserved break and catch up on yard work, or paint the spare room.  Clean the house, we should probably all do that.  No. Forget I said that.  Never clean the house if you're lucky enough to be off over the weekend.  Save it for a lousy day when you want to wring someone's neck.  Don't worry!  You''ll be sanitizing the place all the time.  Except on the weekends.

So!  Going to the mall, the movies, the mountains?  A themepark, a theatre, a treehouse?  Say a roadtrip, a romance, a rodeo?  Maybe just a sh*t, shower and shave.

Our worlds are so diverse, our lives entertwined.  But only if we talk to each other.  Maybe find out a thing or two about that avatar with a nickname you've been arguing with for hours.  I hope I'm not being a pest with these posts.  I know this is TPM and I love it for it's true nature.  For all of you who pour your hearts into politics and then articulate your thoughts in interestingly different ways, I salute you.  I read and learn from your posts.  This little spot I encompass each evening is just meant to be friendly and warm.  A place to catch your breath...and mine.

OK, so make me jealous.  What are you doing this weekend?

Welcome, come on in.  We're just sitting around chatting, nothing in particular.  Some folks have spilled outside, it's a beautiful night.  It's almost a full moon - but not quite.  If you squint you can see the missing sliver of light.  Sure looks like a full reflection on the water, though.  The stars are radiant!  Just look at that!  What an amazing blanket of glittering infinity.  Is that the Big Dipper?  No, maybe it's the little one...wait...why is that one moving?  Never mind, I think it's a plane or something.  Maybe a sattelite.

Little bit of a breeze here by the sea, almost chilly.  Keeps the bugs away, that's always good.  Yea, any breeze at all is appreciated on a warm summer night.  Still humid out, there's a slight haze of moisture in the air.  Ready for more wine?  Me, too, let's head in before we smell too much like salt.

Ahh, air conditioning.  July in the South?  Priceless.  Grab a seat, might be a spot on the sofa, or that big ugly blue chair over there.  But I swear, it's everybody's favorite spot to fall asleep.  Go figure. 

Here you go.  That's OK, I'll grab a pillow and just sit here.  Damn!  Just when you sit down the CD's need to be changed.  Guess I need a nanny.  I know, I know, I couldn.t help it.  What?  Hi!  Didn't know you were here, great to see you!  Now make yourself useful and pick out some tunes.  I don't know...

Any suggestions?  

Do you have cell phone service?  I do.  So we give them our hard earned dollars because we need them.  If we all cancelled our accounts they would go out of business.  Couldn't spy on us then.  That would make a statement, huh?  But we won't do that because we need our telecom providers.  But, boy, can we yell.

Wrote a poem when I was around 13 years old.  I did alot of that, then.  That particular one was also assigned a tune - which may explain why it's committed to memory. 

Tried to catch "Schoolhouse Rock" whenever possible.  It rocked.  Too many to choose a favorie, but "Figure Eight" comes to mind. 

Made crank phone calls with my best friend late at night.  With a rotary dial phone, of course, and an open phone book   We said some of the dumbest things to some of the dumbest people and delighted in the endeavor.


So, let's get together tonight in the living room and reminisce.  It's peaceful outside, the crickets are singing and the tree frogs croaking  "Caddy Shack" is on in the background.  Chex mix is on the table, along with any topic.  Brush off the cares of the day with a few cool cobwebs.  And cocktails.  One of the few advantages of being a grownup.  Then again ... I remember a party..... 

C'mon, tell us, we won't tell anybody else.  Pinkie promise!  What did you do? 

"Who will provide the grand design? What is yours and what is mine? 'Cause there is no more new frontier We have got to make it here We satisfy our endless needs and justify our bloody deeds, in the name of destiny and the name of God And you can see them there, On Sunday morning They stand up and sing about what it's like up there They call it paradise I don't know why You call someplace paradise, kiss it goodbye."

People die in rip currents every year.  Others nearly drown but are rescued in time, or manage to keep their heads and get themselves to shore.  If you swim in the ocean, and find yourself being pulled out to sea the best advise is: swim diagonally to the shore.  The currents are not wide. 

I run an oceanfront motel.  The reason I have this thought tonight is due to two things.  Once again this afternoon, a guest got caught in a rip current and nearly died.  He was rescued by others on the beach, strangers, willing to risk themselves to save him.  They did, and he is resting comfortably in the local hospital tonight.  I've seen this scenario far too many times over the years, and the effect it has on those strangers always strikes me.  They are shaken, yet emboldened.  They share a memory and a bond.

Secondly, it led another guest to share his experience with me.  It happened yesterday.  He was swimming alone - do not ever do that in the ocean -  in just over waist deep water.  Within moments, he was in several feet over his head and moving farther away from shore.  And he was petrified.  Started doing all the wrong things; fighting against the current, wearing himself out and drinking salt water every time he went under.  And go under he did, three times - way under.  On the fourth time up, gasping for air, he knew he was going to die.  He knew it.  He had no strength left, too far from the beach to be seen even if he could wave his arms.  He was going down, and he was going to die.  At that moment he thought, "Please God, don't let me die like this.  Not like this".  That is indeed a quote.  He believes that at that moment God pushed him, on his back, and he began to float slowly to shore.  It took awhile, but he arrived in time to regurgitate on the sand all the salt water bloating his body.  Again, surrounded by caring strangers, he lay on the beach, clutching his cross that was covered with seaweed.  He refused a call for an ambulance, made it back to his room where he sat on the bed with his wife and wept.

As for God helping him, who knows?  The chances are just as good, I suppose, that the timing was just right and he had moved out of the current.  That the push he felt was the swell of a forming wave.  The fact is that he lived, and will forever be a changed man.

His experience, and ability to share it, touched me.  This post does not easily lend itself to reply, and I understand that although comments are welcome.  My main hope is that if you wander by and read this, that you will take a moment to reflect. 

Sometimes it's the silliest of things.  Often, you just had to be there.  The whole room cracks up, or you're the only one who gets the joke.  It can be a smile, or a laugh-out-loud-crying-runny-nose gut laugh.  All of it, every bit of it, truly is the best medicine.

A sense of humor is something we all share.  Getting together, and having the sweetness of friendship lead to laughter is precious.  What do you say?  Let's see if we can laugh tonight. 

At work this afternoon, an older gentleman came up to me wearing a "You Can't Fix Stupid" t-shirt and bright yellow Corona swimming trunks.  It's OK.  I work at the beach.  Anyway, his family had made fun of his shorts all day and he wanted my opinion.  So I looked him over and told him I liked his shorts very much.  They went with his shirt.  He found that absolutely hysterical, and went off to pass my thought on to his family.  His laughter made me smile.

Not long ago a friend and I were in a strange town and hungry for Taco Bell.  There was one across the street from a complicated intersection bunched up with several other fast-food chains.  He navigated the intersection perfectly and pulled into the driveway of Burger King.  Pissed off, he goes back, loops around, U-turns, gets a red light for the trouble and voila!  We're back at Burger King.  Believe it or not, he actually tried again.  This fellow KNOWS how to get where he's going.  And again, we're at Burger King really confusing a whole bunch of people.  By then he was so livid he said a really bad word really loudly at all of them.  I started to laugh.  I didn't want to, it was not a good time, but I just could not stop.  It was, to me, the funniest thing ever.  He joined me, and after a bit we got a couple of Whoppers.

What tickles your funny bone?


Thank you, Desidero, for my thought tonight.

I couldn't decide whether to say sofa, or couch.  After looking at the written words, I chose based on immediate gut response.  Sofa is soft and might like a hug...  couch?  Look at it, say it out loud.  See what I mean?  Will try to be more consistant in the future.

Being soft and inviting is a very important trait in a sofa.  Please note that one should never cover it in plastic.  NEVER.  If you try to stifle the love, it will die. 

This sofa, in this living room, in this space and time can be anywhere.  The glass of wine white, red or blush.  The music any and every genre known to mankind.  The outside landscape as diverse as the lyrics to "God Bless America". 

What matters to each of us, at the end of yet another long and active day, is to find our sofa. 

If you've wandered into my living room, welcome.

Where does a sofa wait for you?

 
Thanks again, Cricket, for my thought tonight.