Fatherless Father's Day

  

      I have passed the rows of Father's Day cards when shopping for weeks now. It's like a knife to my heart every time. I even stopped and read a few last week, seeing what it would do to me to read words I'll never get to say again. The grief is different now, seven months after your death. It is a copper basin, deep and somber. It echoes when the teardrops fall, and they do fall still. It is fresh and old all at once, this grief. It has become a part of me.  The Father's Day ads are everywhere, a constant reminder. Each reminder lances that grief, sometimes deeply and others merely scratch the surface.  I envy the happy celebrants: the fathers, the sons and daughters who rush to buy one of those cards or will be grilling out for their dad this Sunday.
     I envy them, these daughters and sons whose fathers are still a part of their lives. They have a chance to fix mistakes, to show appreciation for the tough lessons, and still have the chance to sit down on the couch together and eat a bowl of ice cream. I have none of those; my chance to say thank you ended long before I knew how grateful I would truly be.  So instead I turn inward, memorializing through internal joy and personal sorrow. I pull out memories like photos in an album, trying to remember the moments as the details seem to fade more and more every day.  So, this year, I will hold those memories close to my heart and shut out the rest of the world on Father's Day

     Loss and pain have no set format, no five step list to be "OK." Grief ebbs and flows like an unpredictable tide, and is never far from the shore of happiness. Joy and pain for me are part of the same memories, joined together as an inseparable part of my life.  This Sunday I will laugh and celebrate the man that taught me to be strong and courageous. I will remember the man who taught me to throw a baseball properly. Though Sunday is an empty Father's Day for me, it holds a legacy full of love, laughter, and a rare strength forged through pain.  And I will realize that it is not a fatherless Father's Day for he is still with me, in my heart.


The feelings are mine the words are Michelle Hanson's

The Winners

Here, finally, are the winners of the 2014 Golden Manley's.  First up is Cover Song of the Year which surprisingly was the most heated battle of all the categories.  And the winner is:

My Body By Volbeat (originally done by Young The Giant)

Next is Duet of the Year and the winner is:

Just Give Me A Reason by P!nk and Nate Reuss

The Album of the Year is:

Modern Vampires In The City -  Vampire Weekend


And The Song of the Year is:

Harlem by New Politics

The Man Hole Presents ...

 The 2014 Manlies

Over at The Man Hole's (red-headed-step) sister blog, The Land of Cerpts and Honey, our long time bestest Buddy Cerpts has published his list of winners for the Penguin Awards that he presents every year for his choices of the best in music.  I too, in the past, have given out awards for my favorite music over the years and I also called them Penguin Awards.  I have also called them The Crystal Swan Awards in honor of the Swan hatch on LOST.  That made sense when I used to run the now defunct DHARMA and Greg Project blog many moons ago.  This is 2014 however and this blog does not rest on it's laurels nor does it live in the past.  Wait, is Max Headroom still the main picture on the home page of the blog?  I also have that comment about being nostalgic posted up there too, don't I?  Well, USUALLY this blog doesn't live in the past.  Anyway, this year The Man Hole is giving away The Manly Awards or as they will be known: The Golden Scrots.  We call them The Golden Scrots because this is a picture of the award the winners will be getting:

I will be announcing nominations in 4 categories:  Song of the Year, Album of the Year, Duet of the Year, and Cover of the Year.  Clicking on the song title will open a window to the youtube video for each song.  So without further ado-do here be the nominees:

Song of the Year 

Just Give Me A Reason - P!nk and Nate Ruess 

Wrecking Ball - Miley Cyrus

Roar - Katy Perry

Diane Young - Vampire Weekend 

I Love It - Icona Pop featuring Charli XCX 

Harlem - New Politics

Album of the Year

 Vampire Weekend Modern - Vampires of the City
Volbeat - Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies
Muse - The 2nd Law
David Bowie - The Next Day
Elton John - The Diving Board

Duet of the Year 

Same Love - Macklemore and Ryan Lewis feat. Mary Lambert 

Dancing In The Dark - Laura Marling & Eddie Berman  

Just give me a reason - P!nk and Nate Ruess

Cover Song of the Year

I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry - Volbeat 

Heart Shaped Box - Hayley Richman 

I Only Wanna Be With You - Volbeat 

Dancing In The Dark - Laura Marling & Eddie Berman

Mother - Natalie Maines 

My Body - Volbeat 

Someone That I used To Know - Fun. featuring Hayley Williams

Winners will be announced in the next few days but please leave a comment or even vote if you have a particular favorite.

   

The Man Hole Christmas Song Hall of Fame Inductee #32

 

Well, here we are, January 1, 2014.  We end the induction of songs with this one, released in 1980 as a single by Dan Fogelberg, the song tells the story of two long ago lovers having a chance meeting in a grocery store on Christmas Eve.

 

 

 

 

The song is semi-autobiographic in that when Fogelberg went back home in the mid-70's to Peoria, Illinois, he ran into an old high school girlfriend in a local convenience store.  The song is almost a word for word account of what happened over the two hour reunion.  The only major differences being the woman really has green eyes and her husband was a physical education teacher not an architect.  Sadly, Dan Fogelberg left us in 2007 after a battle with prostate cancer that lasted for nearly four years.

 

And surely you’ll buy your pint cup !
and surely I’ll buy mine !
And we'll take a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

 

Here's wishing all of us a safe, prosperous, and happy 2014.