{"id":2156,"date":"2008-11-28T15:10:23","date_gmt":"2008-11-28T20:10:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/?p=2156"},"modified":"2009-08-28T15:39:47","modified_gmt":"2009-08-28T19:39:47","slug":"letting-go-with-thanks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2008\/11\/letting-go-with-thanks\/","title":{"rendered":"Letting Go, with Thanks"},"content":{"rendered":"

From whiskey river<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The wonder of a moment in which there is nothing but an upwelling of simple happiness is utterly awesome. Gratitude is so close to the bone of life, pure and true, that it instantly stops the rational mind, and all its planning and plotting. That kind of let go is fiercely threatening. I mean, where might such gratitude end?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Regina Sara Ryan, Praying Dangerously<\/em>)<\/p>\n

Not from whiskey river:<\/p>\n

Don’t pray when it rains if you don’t pray when the sun shines.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Leroy “Satchel” Paige, New York Post<\/em>, October 4, 1959)<\/p>\n

…and:<\/p>\n

My advice to you is not to inquire why or whither, but just enjoy your ice cream while it’s on your plate — that’s my philosophy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Thornton Wilder, “Sabiba,” The Skin of Our Teeth)<\/em><\/p>\n

Finally, the song chosen to wrap up the Northern Exposure<\/em> series. Not everyone is a fan of Iris Dement’s voice, but I think this is a great song. The performance was on Austin City Limits. (If you’d prefer to see the Northern Exposure<\/em> version, it’s on YouTube<\/a> as well — in a shorter and quite darkly lit video.)<\/p>\n

<\/object><\/p>\n

Lyrics:<\/p>\n

Our Town<\/strong>
\n(words and music by Iris Dement)<\/em><\/p>\n

And you know the sun’s settin’ fast
\nand just like they say nothing good ever lasts
\nWell, go on now and kiss it goodbye but hold on to your lover
\n’cause your heart’s bound to die
\nGo on now and say goodbye to our town, to our town
\nCan’t you see the sun’s settin’ down on our town, on our town
\ngoodnight<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Up the street beside that red neon light
\nthat’s where I met my baby on one hot summer night
\nHe was the tender and I ordered a beer
\nIt’s been forty years and I’m still sitting here<\/p>\n

But you know the sun’s settin’ fast
\nand just like they say nothing good ever lasts
\nWell, go on now and kiss it goodbye but hold on to your lover
\n’cause your heart’s bound to die
\nGo on now and say goodbye to our town, to our town
\nCan’t you see the sun’s settin’ down on our town, on our town
\ngoodnight<\/p>\n

It’s here I had my baby’s and I had my first kiss
\nI’ve walked down Main Street in the cold morning mist
\nOver there is where I bought my first car
\nit turned over once but then it never went far<\/p>\n

And I can see the sun settin’ fast
\nand just like they say nothing good ever lasts
\nWell, go on now and kiss it goodbye but hold on to your lover
\n’cause your heart’s bound to die
\nGo on now and say goodbye to our town, to our town
\nCan’t you see the sun’s settin’ down on our town, on our town
\ngoodnight<\/p>\n

I buried my Mama and I buried my Pa
\nThey sleep up the street beside that pretty brick wall
\nI bring them flowers about every day
\nbut I just gotta cry when I think what they’d say<\/p>\n

If they could see how the sun’s settin’ fast
\nand just like they say nothing good ever lasts
\nWell, go on now and kiss it goodbye but hold on to your lover
\n’cause your heart’s bound to die
\nGo on now and say goodbye to our town, to our town
\nCan’t you see the sun’s settin’ down on our town, on our town
\ngoodnight<\/p>\n

Now I sit on the porch and watch the lightning-bugs fly
\nbut I can’t see too good, I got tears in my eyes
\nI’m leaving tomorrow but I don’t wanna go
\nI love you my town, you’ll always live in my soul<\/p>\n

But I can see the sun’s settin’ fast
\nand just like they say nothing good ever lasts
\nWell, go on I gotta kiss you goodbye but I’ll hold to my lover
\n’cause my heart’s ’bout to die
\nGo on now and say goodbye to my town, to my town
\nCan’t you see the sun’s settin’ down on my town, on my town
\nGoodnight, goodnight<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From whiskey river: The wonder of a moment in which there is nothing but an upwelling of simple happiness is utterly awesome. Gratitude is so close to the bone of life, pure and true, that it instantly stops the rational mind, and all its planning and plotting. That kind of let go is fiercely threatening. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","h5ap_radio_sources":[],"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[183,247,12,1393,74,196,50,251],"tags":[178,757,758,759,760,761,762,763],"class_list":{"0":"post-2156","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-everyday-life","7":"category-ruminations","8":"category-03_runningaftermyhat","9":"category-whiskey-river-runningaftermyhat","10":"category-music","11":"category-television","12":"category-language-writing_cat","13":"category-poetry-writing_cat","14":"tag-whiskey-river","15":"tag-gratitude","16":"tag-thanks","17":"tag-satchel-paige","18":"tag-the-skin-of-our-teeth","19":"tag-thornton-wilder","20":"tag-iris-dement","21":"tag-our-town","22":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kZSG-yM","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2156"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2156\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5543,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2156\/revisions\/5543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}