It's Willie's birthday so I went out and hoarded food

I am so ashamed. I posted this morning my note from last night and completely forgot that today is Willie Nelson's birthday.

*sigh*

Sorry, Willie. Knowing you, you'll forgive me cause you're high and you probably could care less that you're ninety-seven years old today. You're still rockin, that's all that matters.

Willie is one of my favorite sing-gers of all time. So many of his songs just hit the nail on the head. Uncloudy Day, Whiskey River, Night Life, Blue Eyes Cryin in the Rain, Railroad Lady. He has a way of singing behind the beat and in front of it that makes singing along to his songs always fun. Almost like he's there with me in my car, purposely lagging behind so we sound cool and artsy.

So many good memories in my life include Willie. My friend Gretchen and I went to see him at some country grandstand in Peoria when I was in college. Heart of Illinois Fair maybe? Anyway, it was during the time he would play anywhere because he was trying to pay off his debt to the IRS. I don't know why he bothered, apparently none of our politicians are paying their taxes.

Then I found my favorite Willie CD, while in Omaha visiting my parents about ten years ago. It was in my dad's CD player in his Caddy. I can vividly remember listening to it as we drove from their house out to Valley to go to Harr's Steakhouse, home of the handmade cinnamon rolls that come to your table with your meal. Dottie Harr made them from scratch every day, and it made the meal. Never before and never after have I ever had cinnamon rolls with a steak. But it's good.

I digress. The song that stuck with me, and forever has been on my top ten list, is If You Could Touch Her At All. Hard to find, worth every single second of it.

Sometimes it seems that she ain't worth the trouble at all.
But she could be worth the world if somehow you could touch her at all.

For my 'ligious friends, have you ever sung along with Uncloudy Day? Just when you thought Willie was a heathen, listen to it. It'll make your soul sing. I put it in the playlist below if you want to check it out, along with a couple other favorites that are maybe not so pure of heart.

Oh, they tell me of a home far beyond the skies
And they tell me of a home far away
Oh, they tell me of a home where no storm clouds rise
Oh, they tell me of an uncloudy day

Rock on, Willie. I celebrated your birthday by going grocery shopping in case we're all shut-in with SWINE FLU pretty soon. Highly unlikely considering Queens is still up and running despite over a hundred victims of SWINE FLU in their midst. But our fancy pants hippie smartie next-door neighbor who never wears a shirt is a microbiologist (or is it macro?) at Wash U and he's hoarding food for the pandemic, so we figured it was the smart thing to do. Plus, we haven't shopped for food in seven months or something, so we were due.

So we're good. We have food. We have water. We have Willie. Bring it on, Mexican pigs. Bring it on.

- H