Blog 850 – 12.21.2017

Somethings Aways Need Stretching, Mind, Wings, Imagination, Vocal Chords

Today is the ninety-sixth anniversary of a baby boy being born that many came to know affectionately as Jake, James Clifford White, my father. Early on in his almost seventy three year adventure in space and time he developed quite a knack for telling a story and stretching the imagination. I heard a story about another boy that reminded me of what young Jake must have been like. At the dinner table both mom and dad were ganging up on Steve for telling his tall tales that stretched the imagination to its limits (Some adults act like they had their imaginations surgically removed, sometimes.) What Steve thought of as great story telling his parents thought of as exaggeration. So they agreed no more exaggerating, just tell the story straight, no embellishing. Little Steve nodded.

“Mom, dad, guess what I saw on the way home from school this afternoon?”

“What, Steve?”

“A turtle and he must have been going sixty miles an hour.”

“Now, Steve, you know a turtle cannot go sixty miles an hour.”

“Maybe so, but he had to ‘cause there was a bear chasing him.”

“Finish your vegetables, Stephen King.”

Somethings Aways Need Stretching, Mind, Wings, Imagination, Vocal Chords. A well-meaning friend commented on my singing that sometimes I pick songs that are a little out of my range, a little too high for my voice. I told them that like minds, wings, and imaginations that I am just stretching my vocal chords. Who knows what high notes and low as well that I might be able to reach someday.

Your friend, fellow traveler, and mockingbird,

David White