Warm Coffee and Making Something out of Nothing
Dear friends: Hope all of you are well and enjoying your best life ever. I have been off line and off of this blog for some time. I started it about 5+ years ago as my son George was entering his senior year at Iowa (playing football). Partly as a way to think about and share the experience of following him through that senior year. And partly just because I felt I had some things to say. So I wrote intermittently for 3-4 or so years and as things do in life, things changed. Much has happened in my life since starting this blog those years ago and my life has gone through a lot of changes since then. I am sure as I get back up and running with this blog I will share more about all of that in future posts.
I do struggle with the sharing at times because it seems to assume that somehow my life and the experiences I have, have some value worth sharing. Most days I am not sure that is true. That said, I do believe in a good story and think there is value in that. And in any good story there are values shared, hero’s and not so hero-ish people that we can learn from, and thus the potential for some kind of lesson or learning. And I am all about that. If life is nothing else it is, or at least can be, a constant teacher if we are a willing student. So with no bold prediction of success in these efforts, I have decided to once again forge ahead.
I am now living in a new city, having moved to Nashville in April to take a new job coaching high school football at a local high school here (Libscomb Academy). I coach the offensive line and we are just over the half way point in our season. It has been a great change for me and I am very much enjoying it. More on all of the football drama and excitement later. But today as I left the house for my 7:30 AM hot yoga class (at Shakti Power Yoga – good friends!) it was finally not hot and humid and actually was in the low 50’s. It was just about the first time I had felt a bit of chill since moving here and after the very hot summer we had the change is quite welcomed. I left with my favorite cup of freshly brewed steaming hot coffee (very dark with just a shot of cream). As I left the house I was struck with the comfort I felt holding the very warm (almost hot) cup of coffee against the chill of the cool morning. Just holding it was great, with the steam rising and the warmth of the cup tingling the inside of my hands. Drinking it was pretty good too.
The warmth I felt was not just in my hands and stomach. It was also emotional and mental. These feelings got me thinking about the small little things in life that we so often take for granted or do not even notice. Things that actually can give us comfort and pleasure (if we are in a place in our lives or day to appreciate it). A smile from a stranger, the smell of fresh bread, the comfort of a favorite shirt or pair of pants. You know what I mean. Things we have all around us but sometimes let slip by.
As I was thinking of all this and driving to yoga, a Jimmy Buffett song came on the radio that seemed to be so on point it felt much more than a coincidence. I am sure you have had those experiences as well. Something random but positive that reinforces some other totally unrelated event or experience. Things disconnected but yet connected in some way. Cosmic synchronicity if you will. These type of experiences in life I have come to really enjoy because I like to think things are connected, we are all connected, and that the universe has a type of “current” or “energy” if we are only able to dip our toes into it.
Anyway, the song is called “Something About a Boat” and I include the lyrics below. But basically it’s a song about how something you think is nothing is actually something big. How a boat, an old guitar, windows in a room, and a dog, can all offer us comfort and make “something out of nothing.” So I will leave you with the lyrics. As you read them maybe ponder the small things in life that are everywhere around us, even right before us when we need them, but either because of attitude, vision, or other cloudiness, we simply can’t see them, experience them, or find them to enjoy. So just possibly today take things a little slower and enjoy those things already in our lives that can give us comfort and joy. Let them indeed make something out of nothing. For that really is what life is isn’t it? All the best and until next time.
Bruce
"Somethin' 'Bout A Boat"
Somethin' 'bout a boat Sittin' on the sea Out there in the wind Floatin' on the free Take you 'round the world Bring you back home Gives a man hope Somethin' 'bout a boat Somethin' 'bout an old guitar And the way it still sings After all the smokey bars And the broken strings Played a million songs Broke a lot of hearts Made some people stars Somethin' 'bout an old guitar Ain't it crazy how somethin' Seems like nothin' at all Take a big old room Make it seem so small Seein' windows where there are walls Makes a whole lot of something Out of nothin' at all Somethin' 'bout your dog Sittin' by your side If you had a bad day She ain't gonna run and hide Just a-waggin' that tail Grinnin' that grin Somethin' 'bout my dog Makes her my best friend Ain't it crazy how somethin' Seems like nothin' at all Take a big old room Make it seem so small Seein' windows where there are walls Makes a whole lot of something Out of nothin' at all Makes a whole lot of something Out of nothin' at all Somethin' 'bout a dog Somethin' 'bout an old guitar Somethin' 'bout a boat That gives a man hope
