Most people who are parents will tell you that at times it’s the dealing with the daily grind and the mundane that makes things tough. It’s the doing of laundry, the washing of dishes, the cooking of meals, the packing of lunches, the chauffeuring around to various soccer games and other activities, the folding of clothes, the making of beds, the drying of tears, the checking of homework, the soothing of egos and the countless other things that go into it that make things seem almost drab. If one stops to think about it, the list could be endless and sometimes one might feel that they’re just going through the motions. After all, most people today are trying to juggle both a career and a home life and at times, little things tend to get lost in all the shuffle.
The papers lie there helplessly in a pile outside the door
I've tried and tried, but I just can't remember what they're for
The world outside is tugging like a beggar at my sleeve
Oh, that's much too old a story to believe
But then, there are the special moments. The gleam in their eye when they tie their first shoelace, the display of various works of art on the refrigerator door, the feeling you get when your child starts reading to you rather than the other way around, the scoring of that first goal and little bursts of independence that make you think that has all been worth it.
About a little after 8:00 last night, the phone rang and it was Anna. She had just got back from a little skiing expedition in Salt Lake City, Utah and wanted to tell me about it. She told me about the powder and how beautiful the mountains were but how the thinness of the air made her dizzy and how she only fell three times and how she wished I had been there. And then, she dropped the bombshell.
And you know that it's taken its share of me
Even though you take such good care of me
Now you say "Morocco" and that makes me smile
I haven't seen Morocco in a long, long while
The dreams are rolling down across the places in my mind
And I've just had a taste of something fine
A while back, I told you folks about something called People to People. In short, it’s kinda like a program that sends kids off to other parts of the world to take in various cultures and customs and maybe leave behind a few of their own. It’s all done with the intention of building up good will between youth’s of various countries. In part, I guess that’s because it’s much harder to kill something that you know and understand than it is to kill something that you fear. Makes sense to me…
Anyway, my daughter was the only one chosen from her school to be interviewed and guess what? She landed the part.
The future hides and the past just slides
England lies between
Floating in a silver mist so cold and so clean
California's shaking like an angry child will
Who has asked for love and is unanswered still
So, sometime in the summer of 2007, my kid is going off with about sixteen other girls her age as a scholar/athlete and will be spending three to four weeks in Holland or the Netherlands kicking around soccer balls and exchanging good vibes and warm and fuzzies with people she’s never been exposed to before. Today, to say I’m a proud papa couldn’t begin to describe how I feel.
I mean, lets face it. For those of you who know me, you know 2005 wasn’t the best of times. Between heart attacks and quad bypasses and the loss of two good friends to diabetes and suicide within weeks of each other, the accompanying stress made me feel as if it was all I could do just to keep my feet in the race.
And you know that I'm looking back carefully
’Cause I know that there's still something there for me
But you said "Morocco" and you made me smile
And it hasn't been that easy for a long, long while
And looking back into your eyes I saw them really shine
Giving me a taste of something fine
Something fine
Not that it won’t be a struggle to get her there. Finances are always a consideration but I think that between me and my ex, we’ll be able to scrape up the money. After all, this might be one of those proverbial once in a lifetime opportunities that you have to snatch up when they come along. Plus, you never know how valuable this experience might become later in life. She’ll only be twelve when this whole deal goes down and to deny her the opportunity just wouldn’t be fair.
Now if you see Morocco I know you'll go in style
I may not see Morocco for a little while
But while you're there I was hoping you might keep it in your mind
To save me just a taste of something fine
Besides, the selfish part of me reasons that whatever money is spent on the cost of the trip is being done so as an investment. It’ll repay itself in the stories she tells and the memories that she has for many years to come.
Those are the sort of things you can’t put a price tag on.
Lyrics to “Something Fine” copyright Jackson Browne and released on his first album called “Saturate Before Using” way back in 1972.
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