The first one...

So I was sitting around with Janeen last night just being stupid like we like to do and I started telling her stories about my very strange life... She said "you have to put this stuff on paper, it's so funny and so sad too"... I didn't really take it serious at first but I started thinking that I've been truly "blessed" (I actually hate that word) to have experienced things that a little middle-class kid should have never, in his wildest of dreams, been able to experience... It DOES make for a good story... I guess with this first one, I'll just kinda start at the beginning... I believe we have all lived before... A lot of folks say I'll burn in Hell for believing that, but I couldn't give a shit less if I do, honestly... To me, there's a part of everyone who already lives in Hell... We've lost mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, friends, etc. and for God's sake (when I say God, I only say it because I was raised that way, I don't care WHAT you call that power) we all know what suffering is about and it IS Hell... That being said, I believe I came onto this earth as a songwriter... I don't think it's a gift, I think it's just what it is... Some of us are fantastic at picking up trash, some of us are good at accounting, I just happen to be good at songwriting... Doesn't make me special and it doesn't make me any better or worse than any one of you... There's just a reason I was born that way and I wish every single minute of every single day I could explain it but instead of dwelling on explaining it, I have just decided to deal with it and go where it takes me... Now, with THAT being said, I want to explain why I wanted to write songs... One day, WAY back when I was a little dude, I was in the front yard of our house at NW 43rd and Meridian in Oklahoma City and my mother had a transister radio sitting on the porch while she was outside doing some kind of work (I wasn't paying attention) and humming to the songs on the radio... This song came on that stopped me from chasing the invisible Indians I was out to get (The Lone Ranger made quite the impact on me when I was that young), and for a moment the world seemed to freeze... We had this pretty good sized Memosa tree in the front yard and when I froze I saw a Robin fly from one of the branches to a chainlink fence that was butted up next to our house... I stared at that Robin and took a step... He locked eyes with me... I took another step, he watched me but didn't move... It took me about 30 seconds, but I got within two feet of him and I realized that the bird understood that I was hearing this song and I was no threat, I was enthralled... Somehow, in that little bird's mind, it connected with me on a level that I had never, and have still never understood... But I know you know what I'm talking about... It's that "everything justfeels right" kind of feeling... I smiled at the bird, he couldn't smile back (obviously) but he would have been because that song had taken us both to places I'd never been... And I had the extreme privilege of sharing with another of God's creations... The song ended and I heard the DJ say, "that's another fantastic song written by none other than Lennon and McCartney" and it hit me like a shovel in the head that what I had just heard had actually been "written" by someone, it didn't just fall out of the sky... I jumped, literally... So did the Robin... Our moment was over but a far bigger one had begun... I KNEW at that very moment, why I had been born... It was to do that thing I had just witnessed happen... The song was "Yesterday" and I still play it proudly for myself to this day from time to time... It was the first time that I realized that God had given me the same gift that He, Himself had... The power to create life from nothing and make a lifetime happen in a very short period of time... That's my story and I'm stickin' to it... See more later... :)