Music Therapy Thursday: Memories of Momma and Daddy

My daddy loved, loved, loved Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson. Their famous album "Wanted!" recorded as The Outlaws with Jesi Colter and Tompall Glaser was probably my daddy's all-time favorite recording. This song is on that album, and it reminds me so much of my dearly-departed momma and daddy.

Daddy had a wild streak a mile wide and was known to many by his nickname Rowdy, which he earned for his behavior instead of as a tribute to the Clint Eastwood character on "Rawhide." In his teen years, daddy was an honest-to-goodness cowboy who worked the rodeo circuit before Uncle Sam came calling and allowed daddy to fulfill his other dream of being a soldier. Both these jobs allowed daddy to indulge his desire to engage in adventure, danger and the unexpected.

Now, momma could throw down with the best of them and on many occasion held her own up against daddy's wild ways. However, in the scope of their relationship, she was often the level-headed one. Were it not for momma, I am sure I would have spent my childhood traveling the globe without a structured and predictable routine to grow and thrive under. I am sure daddy would have been happy as a clam living in a camper rolling around the country with us in tow rather than residing in a brick-and-mortar structure in which he felt confined and frustrated.

So many times I listened to this song with daddy and heard him proclaim that it was about my momma always clarifying his proclamation by saying, "I reckon it's that good heart of hers that lets her put up with me."

I suppose it's no wonder that I grew up to fall in love with a "good timin' man" Good thing I had a wonderful example in momma and daddy's relationship to prepare me for my own.