Shining Times

The old time mountain men of the Rocky Mountains had a saying for good times. They would refer to them as shining times. I have had some shining times in my life and look forward to more days that will shine in my memory once they are over.

I have decided that while our lives are measured in years, we remember them in moments. I remember moments of great joy, moments of great sadness, moments of embarrassment, and moments of stupidity. I can remember how I felt in those moments and in many cases the words I said or that were said to me. However, I cannot recall what happened just before or after those moments. I guess I don't have enough gigs in my memory to remember everything, just those that deeply impress me in some way.

Those that do come back may times involve close friends, girlfriend(s) or wish were girlfriend(s), my wife, my children, my pets, my family (parents, grandparents, cousins), hiking, camping, skiing, canoing, riding motorcycles, driving, and more. I guess they are just things that happened in my life and effected me more deeply than I may have thought at the time.

I also remember missed chances to tell someone how important they were to me. Sometimes it may have been the last chance to do so, and I missed it. We all should be careful to avoid that.

In every part of my life, friendships, business, jobs, activities, music, theater, travel, politics, etc., it seems there are people that stand out and touch me more than the average person I meet in any of those endeavors. While I cannot name each one here, I am enormously appreciative of their being a part of my life, whether for a short time or for a long time.

My best friend all through grammar school, now called elementary and middle school, was Alan Tipton. He died while I was in college and I still miss him. I did go see him in the hospital a short time before he died and his mother said it was a good day for him. He knew me and we talked about school. After that they said he went downhill quickly and seldom knew much of what was going on. When I heard he had died, I felt bad that I had not gone back one more time. After much prayer, I decided it was not meant to be. I still think of him and appreciate the times we had growing up together.

Today I was practicing my guitar. Picking and singing and getting ready to record. While singing I was looking out the window in my guest bedroom/office/recording studio and saw a deer browsing on the hillside across the road. I may not remember that for a long time, but I am thankful that it happened all the same.

Playing a performing music has been one of the shining events in my life. It has been a pleasure to spend years picking with David, as we have complemented one another in our styles and attitudes. I hope we have many more years of performing together. We recently went once again to see Doc Watson perform. Many times we have driven to a Doc Watson Concert since around 1977, usually about 100 miles one way. Doc is great no matter who he is performing with. For my tastes, I think his very best music was the years we first started seeing him in person, as he was performing with Merle Watson (his son), and T. Michael Coleman on bass and harmony vocals. I know he still misses Merle and we do too. Doc recently (March 3rd) turned 87 years old. I commented to David that for us to keep up with Doc we would be playing at least another 31 years. I think I may have been more enthusiastic in this possibility than David was.

Playing with Doc this time was David Holt. We have followed David almost as long as we have Doc, beginning with his show on The Nashville Network, Fire on the Mountain. Then through recordings, concerts, radio and TV shows that he has done. David is an excellent musician and entertainer and we have tried to emulate parts of his performance techniques, believing that entertaining is important along with the music.

Raising my children was shining times also. I loved having small children and babies. I miss them being small, though I enjoy the people they have become. Someday I may have grandchildren to spoil, but not yet, and I am in no particular hurry. Those will be shining times too, I just know it.

I have great memories, a good life, and lots of dreams. I have not made a Bucket or Life list, though there are things that I hope to accomplish and am working toward several of them. Whatever it is that makes your life more enjoyable, I hope you are able to find it, to do it, to accomplish it. May you have shining memories, days, and dreams.

See you down the road.

Nelson