Standing at the Frisco Depot, Springfield, Missouri, waiting for the early morning train. There is a small crowd gathered on the platform, but I am only focused on the four people around me. My Father, Big Stan, my Mom, Ruby Ann, my brother Danny and my brother Sammy.
My buddy, Paul Covey, and I, soon as we graduated high school, decided to join the Navy and see the world. 18 years old, green as a gourd and rarein' to get on with it, although I wasn't sure what "it" was, but that was the point I wanted to go find out.
Back to the family gathered around me. What sticks in my mind was this...sure Mom was cryin', but I had seen her cry many times, but my Dad was standing there with tears running down his cheeks...and I had never, in my 18 years, seen him do that. Years later, I asked him about that. He told me that, standing on the train platform, he realized his oldest boy was leaving home....and he said he also realized that, given my restless nature, I would never come back home to stay again.
Well, he was right, I reckon. It was a special time for leaving and seeking adventure for me....and It really has never stopped. I have an inquisitive nature, a desire to see where things come from, where different roads lead, what is over the next hill. Funny how life works itself out, shaping you to the desires of your heart, taking you in directions that you never dreamed of going.
From that 18 year old beginning, to my 77th year coming up in March, the journey has been pretty interesting, but totally unsuspected. At 12 years old I thought I would grow up and be a Veterinarian, at 18 years old I thought I would be a Sailor, at 24 years old I thought I would work with homeless boys at the Boys Ranch, at 26 years old I became a Hillbilly Singer, at 30 years old I became a TV host, and traveling the world with a guitar case full of songs.....and as you must now suspect....I had no dang idea what I was gonna be when I grew up.
My two brothers stayed in the area where they were born and become adept at one of my Fathers skills, which was...wood working, and they became artists at it. I am proud of both of them for the meaningful work that they have accomplished. But, I am confounded at why I was the throwback...the maverick...the wanderer...the one with no particular useful ability to build anything of substance.
The lifestyle of music, however, fits my interest in what's over the next hill, and it always felt natural to be working to an audience, to be telling a story in song or conversation, to be hanging with people of musical genius that were my heroes and friends.
The Lord leads us, each and every one, in the paths that He chooses for us, if we are willing to follow and not try to go off on side roads of our own desires. I have tried to always be on His Path, but, alas, I have failed many times. It is a regret of my life that I have not been more faithful, but we are what we are, and that is what God's forgiveness is for.
A Musicians life is not for the faint hearted, and not for one that want's a guaranteed pot of gold at the end of their rainbow. No, it is for those who find their satisfaction in a sound, a phrase, a lick, a run, a perfect tuned instrument, a particular word that rhymes. There is no retirement and gold watch when you put in 50 years service. No plaque to put on the wall that says, "In Appreciation of good service and faithful attendance"....no, your reward is in a certain someone, who is listening in the audience, rapt expression on their face, totally understanding the message you are trying to bring, and who comes around after the show and says, "Thank you, your music really touched me." That's it, that's the reward...if that is not enough, then you need to find another line of work. Those special moments in a Musicians life, when the song is just right, the band really tight, the sound system works perfectly, and the audience, on this particular night, is receiving the art you are putting forth...and sending it right back to the stage like an electric current. Then, you thank God that you were chosen for this life, the life of music and love. And it is all worth while.
Stan
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