Memories | Tracks In The Dust

Archive for the tag “Memories”

21 Jan 2014

Songs About “Time”

“Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love, time is eternity.” – Henry Van Dyke

Coming up on my the end of my 2nd year of posting to “tracks in the dust” and I think I have shared my thoughts a lot on time and its passages. It is truly thinking through the concept of the idea of our tracks we leave behind us in our lives. Each day,each hour we have during our mission here on earth, time passes and we have less of it until that moment our life ends in this form.

Time is something no one can change once it has passed, and everyone is subject to it in the moment that is “now”.

There are so much said on the blogs here in WordPress, so many books written about it, so many songs ( there I am again in the musical mode). It is

We all are subject to the changes that time deals out. It changes everything – except that when it tries to change us we seem to so often be surprised. Go figure I guess.

We all understand that there is no way to stop the clock and wait for things, as much as we sometimes wish. Like stopping a terminal illness until a cure, it won’t happen. It is 5 years since my cancer surgery and start of radiation treatments and time has been kind. I have been blessed that the ongoing treatments invented to help fight the disease are helping, and that while I am surviving as new things are being discovered to help further fight it. Count on the fact there will always be that race.

My kids will often wish that time would hurry, so they could get to the next thing in their lives. Live for the big event, live for the weekend. Look out toward the horizon. But they stop looking at the “now” and cherishing what that is. I think that comes with age (maybe) or the wisdom that is provided us by the life we live and the perils in it.

Which all leads up to the point I have made again and again. The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time.

Enjoying while you can. It is yours to spend until the end… time waits for no one.

Some of my favorite songs about time:

Ambrosia: Time Waits for No One

Al Stewart: Time Passages

02 Jan 2014

7 Comments

A Song Called “I Can Sleep Again”

I am sharing a song that was written by our children as a gift. Our children are the most precious things my wife and I have in our lives. This is a very special gift. Take a listen.

They are all over 20 years old and have found directions in their lives that are making them become the adults we had hoped they would become. They are also very much into music (much like their dad). This holiday 2 of our sons and our daughter were all at home and had time to visit with each other and remind themselves and us that they are truly brothers and sister in a family that loves each other.

During their time they created this song ( in the span of 2 days) . It is 4 1/2 minutes long and created on the spot during their visit. It is a song about “finding your way back” with the help of someone you love. Beautiful. Some production work from my son Ryan on his PC and it was presented to my wife and I. It has become the greatest Christmas gift we could ask for.

It will never be a top-hit on tomorrows Billboard charts, but it is something that we will always cherish.

If you can stream it and choose to find the time to indulge, I appreciate your listening. Just wanted to share it because I am very proud.

It's a song called "I Can Sleep Again" 
(© 2013 Ryan, Greg and Jennifer Gertenbach)

Posted in Life's Sound Track (Music) and tagged Anthony Green, Arts, choices, Creating Music, Don't Let Go, Faith, Family, Finding Your Way Back, Life Soundtrack, Memories, mental-health, Music, Never Letting Go, Poetry, Rock music, Songs, Songs About Changes, Songs About Not Giving Up, Special Gifts, tracks in the dust

25 Dec 2013

2 Comments

Good Parent/Bad Parent

Easy to read all of the comments these days about how parents are treating their kids.

The Internet and media are full of news about parents who have done “bad” things to their kids. Some of them life threatening, some of them much more subtle but damaging. As a parent the obvious conclusion is to compare and be sure that you are not one of those parents who damaged their kids futures from some sort of neglect. Who put them through hell during their childhood so that they would never be good kids or worse yet good adults when they grew up?

Always seems like someone has the best idea: ” Spare the rod spoil the child.” “Teach the kids to be independent.” “Tell them how it really is.” “Make sure they understand that everything has consequences.” Or maybe for some they teach them ” there is always a way to get out of something.”

With so many influences outside a parents control- getting that fundamental core values have to be taught earlier and earlier. There is no shelter from the influences that are available today for kids in every age level.

So what are my wife and I ? Good parents? Bad ones?

I know I have my days where I guess I am pretty good. My kids have their own problems… did I dump them on them or did they collect their situations and predicaments all by them selves?

There are regrets as a parent, but overall you have to make the best of it. Some parents have much more success, while others seem to be constantly frustrated by their children- and cannot see why they had anything to do with it.

So I am guessing that is the fate of parents in general. They didn’t come with an owners manual when they arrived. Other than medical or convictions as reasons that they may not come to be; there are very few rules stopping someone from having one, even if they have very little experience or life lessons to reflect upon. Yup, no license to be a parent, no manuals, no permissions to be obtained. We parents have a lot of responsibility, but that is seldom accounted for as much until the day they are born… handed to you and you become a “parent” …. then the debate begins.

I love my kids (all 4 of them) and hope that they don’t blame us too much for the way they turned out. When they are doing good, we think that we did pretty good raising them; they think they did it all themselves. When they are doing poorly, we think it must have been some other reason than us; they think that it’s all their parents fault.

Either way – most of us do the best we can it seems.

Posted in Learning Lessons Along the Journey Of Life and tagged Acceptance, being a parent, being remembered, Children, Doubt, Family, Grace, Happiness, Memories, Opinion, Postive Thinking, Raising Children, Reality Check, relationships

16 Dec 2013

Being Together At Christmas

I can’t shake it at this time of year. The decorations in front of houses, the hustle and bustle to run to get gifts for everyone. The music that makes up the soundtrack of Christmas. Live trees for sale on the corner lot, the mall Santa’s with the lines of kids waiting to tell him about their wishes.

It brings back a glimpse of the days so many years ago when I was in elementary school. Anticipating the time off from school, where I lived there was predictable snow and time for sledding and snowball fights. Then there was the kids program at church were we dutifully acted out the Christmas story complete with shepherds, wise men and angels. It was classic indeed- but an important part of the meaning of our celebration.

The biggest anticipation is still solid today as it was then. Family and Friends. Getting the family and friends together to celebrate Christmas is still one of the genuine things about the coming holiday. As I have gotten older, the presents mean less, the observation of the birth of our Lord means much more… but the family means more too. In a different way than when I was younger, when it was about Aunts and Uncles and Grandparents, it is about my own family. My children are grown, and they are on their own for the most part.

It’s fun to see that with their own jobs and careers they are making personal gift decisions, trying to find that “special” thing that is in their budget- but thoughtful because they chose it without parents “help” when they were young. It’s also fun to know that on Christmas morning they won’t be scrambling for the crack of dawn to find the boxes under the tree. But It will be about being together, capturing the moment. Having the special meal of the day and some time recall those funny and special times from those younger days for them.

Okay – call me sentimental. It really is about being together. About capturing the special moments. Not in a picture on Facebook, not about Twittering out short sentences about the holiday. It’s about being able to take a deep breath, take stock of our blessings, praise the Lord for his coming and being a family in the best possible way.

Posted in Learning Lessons Along the Journey Of Life and tagged cherish, Christmas, Christmas tree, Family, Grace, Joy, Life, Memories, moments, Santa, Self-Awareness, Special Times

13 Dec 2013

2 Comments

Grow Old Along with Me

Recently my wife and I were both noticing a whole lot more pills in the medicine chest.

Our challenge is that we know we “need” them, but we are kind of in denial that they are something we need to take just because some things seem to be “wearing out” in our bodies.

That seems to be compounded by added surgery required to fix and remove things in an effort to live a longer life. Add to that new prescriptions for eyeglasses to improve eyesight, and the frequent rubbing of aches and pains that seem to be showing up more these days.

Modern medicine is truly focused on those of us getting older. For the young I say, “don’t take it for granted that health is something that needs no maintenance”. Over time it will be a challenge, if it isn’t age it may be something else. Like a recent post I re-blogged – you need to take care of yourself regardless of age.

Which brings me to one of the most important things about growing old for me. I get to spend it with the love of my life. Going on 35 years next year, I think we have come to realize how life is precious. We love our children (all 4 of them) and wish them all the best as they grow older too. I love my wife. And as we line up the pills, and polish our glasses for better vision, and visit our doctors more often it seems than ever… we can grow old together.

Here is a song that has really captured it for me. (Leave it to me to get back to music somehow 🙂

Written by John Lennon, this is Mary Chapin Carpenters version.