advent journal: birthday sing-a-long . . .
I’ve been sitting here for an hour or so trying to figure out what to write today. I’ve finally decided to just sing a long.
Peace
Milton
I’ve been sitting here for an hour or so trying to figure out what to write today. I’ve finally decided to just sing a long.
Peace
Milton
Friday night I am going to see John Prine. It’s an early birthday present, and a great one at that. My friend Terry is picking me up from work and we are driving over to Greensboro to soak up one of my songwriting heroes. Today at work at the computer store, I told a couple…
Writing everyday for Advent means reading everyday; if I have any hope of saying something fresh, it will be with the help of traveling companions willing to let me borrow their words. I have seldom had a plan for what I would read. I wander the house, or a bookstore, looking for the volume that…
I can tell by watching the clip that it happened a long time ago–1996 to be exact–but I saw it for the first time this week: Patti LaBelle singing “This Christmas” at the National Christmas Tree Lighting and getting to the part where the background singers are supposed to sing, “This Christmas,” but nobody sings….
We gathered this morning in our church, along with Christians around the world, to observe the first Sunday of Advent, our intentional, patient walk to the birth of Jesus. Our tradition on this day is a service called “The Hanging of the Greens” (needless to say, we are not alone) where we decorate the sanctuary…
when we lived by the ocean I learned to tell time by the tides (I guess I should say I couldn’t tell time a thing — or keep it) there was no second hand . . . no sense of calendar — just the giving and taking away of the beach twice a day: a…
Thanks for making the journey with me this Advent season. The night is far spent; the day is at hand. I am grateful for all the love that surrounds me. I let James Taylor sing us to sleep. Peace Milton
Perfect, Happy Birthday dear Milton.
John Denver will always take me back and make me feel so much.
Thank you, Milton. I’ve not thought of this song in such a long time!
And Happy Birthday.
That is just so beautifully perfect! Happy Birthday, Milton! May you live a long and wonderful life…impacting the world, just as your dad did! Obviously, you are doing just that! CHEERS to YOU today!!
You could not have picked a more appropriate song. Thanks (again, and again, and again), for sharing.
Happy Birthday Milton. Each one is a blessing
I’ve loved John for decades! So interesting to listen to these words at the age of 63. I feel like I’ve been to church! Thanks–and happy birthday.
Dear Milton: If the collected works of John Denver, and I admit that I still remember all of the words, get stuck in my head, you will be hunted down and will not enjoy another birthday. (We have mostly preachers but one little axe murderer whacking away in the Tyson family tree. I hate to call Carlton an “axe murderer,” as if he never did anything else, but that’s life–one little axe murder and it’s axe murder, axe murder, axe murder the rest of your life.) In any case, I do hope you have a happy birthday and many more to come.
And I do hope you can autograph my copy of Keeping the Feast one day soon. It’s as a challenging as croissants from scratch, in its way, but at least as comforting as open-faced chicken pot pie. Above all, I love your intuitive understanding, which runs throughout this book, that, damn the cost of three more cups of wine, the communion cup must never run dry. Yours will not, I know that much.
It’s okay about the John Denver. Okay, it happened, okay, but I played Lee Dorsey’s “Sitting Here La La Waitin’ for My Ya Ya” four or five times and all was well.
With every good wish,
Tim Tyson
amen! hugs today.
Milton,
Claud has shared several of your posts with me. Your words always make me think, smile and/or cry. Throw in a little John Denver and I’m hooked! Today, I subscribed to your blog. It’s a good day to be grateful for this good life. Happy Birthday!
Kelly
Happy Birthday, Milton! Thanks for sharing your own “poems and prayers and promises” here over the years. (And the recipes, too!) It truly has been “fine to have the chance to hang around.” Blessings to you and Ginger today and always.
John Denver: always makes me smile. Thanks for sharing this song today. And may you have a happy birthday and a wonderful year. Your blog always makes me think and often makes me smile!