The Big Three & The Cherry On Top: Peace & Calm

Many people seem on edge lately. They have an impending sense of doom. The election results in the U.S. have some folks worried for the future. For others, the economy; Mother Nature; the crazy spot we find ourselves in today, have all caused uneasiness. I’ve been thinking about it and I can’t change the news. Boy, that would be an amazing super-power? And I can’t help others go back in time or fast forward into the future. I can’t do any of those things. However, I can try to bring an understanding smile to those around me.

This is a preview of a weekly feature that I’m going to run in 2025. It’s three things I’m grateful for from the week and one thing that makes me happy. Hence the name, The Big Three & The Cherry On Top.

Yes, the world can be a crazy place. Some times it helps to step back, close your eyes, and list out a few of the things you’re grateful for. Here’s what I’m grateful for this week.

What I’m thankful for:

–The calm after the storm. We had three days of gloomy rain this week. Then, on the fourth day, the sky opened up to reveal a beautiful sunny day. The birds chirped and the rain seemed to glisten off the trees. It felt like God had opened up the Heavens and let us listen into the choir of Angels. Yes, thank you for the rain and thank you for the sun that comes after.

–Good timing. I looked in the refrigerator and then a cabinet the other day for what my wife and I might have for dinner. It looked pretty bare. Tuna. Maybe a can of tomato soup. It was going to be slim pickings for us. Oh, both are fine dishes, but they weren’t what I had in mind. Right on cue, I got a text from my wife. She sent a picture of a Gingerbread Expresso Martini. It was from a restaurant that we both like. She had written four little words: “Want to go tonight?”

Hell yea, problem solved.

–Test, test, test. My thoughts raced back to yesteryear. I took my last final exam and walked back from class to my dorm room. Christmas break would begin as soon as my parents picked me up. My thoughts though were scattered as can be. In fact, I was so lost in my thoughts I nearly walked out in front of a car. The guy honked his horn and I still almost walked out in front of him.

The semester had been a busy one. I was running on fumes. When my parents picked me up, they noticed right away that I was not myself. I had lost 15 pounds and looked a pale yellow. Over Christmas break, my mom got me in to see a doctor. He gave me a blood test and diagnosed me quickly with anemia, meaning my iron levels were low. In the end, I managed to turn things around, but it’s always reminded me how work can catch up to us if we don’t watch it.

My experience came back to me because my son will be taking his final exams next week. We can’t wait to see him. I’m grateful that he seems to balancing things better than I ever did.

What got me to smile this week:

–There’s lots of stories about the Rolling Stones and how they wrote the song Wild Horses in 1969. It started out with Keith Richards strumming forlornly, thinking about how he missed his newborn son. Lead singer Mick Jagger was thinking about loss too. He was grieving the death of former band member Brian Jones and the near death of girlfriend Marianne Faithfull.

For me though, I have other memories of the song.

I remember stumbling across the song one night in high school. I was getting off work from my job at a local grocery store. Unfortunately, a heavy snow was coming down and I worried about getting home in one piece. I had listened to the Rolling Stones, but I have never heard the song. The memory stuck in my head over the years because it was such a surprise to hear my local radio station play something that wouldn’t be played on Casey Kasem’s radio show, America’s Top 40. The DJ played a double shot of the Rolling Stones and the song matched my melancholy mood. I would be graduating high school in the spring and I was fearful of what was to come. College. Moving away from home. Making new friends. Needing to figure out life’s big questions. At the same time, though, I knew that I needed to move on with my life.

My windshield wipers could barely keep up in wiping away the snow. I was driving through a rural valley now full of farms and pastures and looked up at one point. I swear I saw four wild horses running across one of the open fields. I was sure it was wishful thinking. Still, I took that as a good omen. I sang the chorus over and over until I pulled in safely to our driveway.

Oh yes, “Wild horses couldn’t drag me away.”

The song came on this week and it took me back to another time and another world. From a sad song to a very happy ending.

. . .

I hope you like this idea for 2025. Look for it starting January 4. I suspect most of these pieces will be shorter, others may be longer. Who knows where I’ll go with it? What do you think?