#family | MidiMike

Posts Tagged ‘#family’

What Have You Done For Them Lately?

Posted: November 20, 2015 in Opinions and Observations, Uncategorized
Tags: #family, #fire, #love, #personal, #story, #writer

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I was recently speaking with some friends and the topics floated around like they normally do.   We finally spun into accomplishments and major things each of us have done.  As each of us look back on our lives there are things we have achieved and successes we are proud of.

I would like to tell you something I did that may have been the most important and long lasting of any.  My family and group of friends love to camp.  We go to parks and national forests, friends get-a-ways and even in our back yard. In fact one of the local county parks uses our camp sight as the background picture for their web site.  One night we had just finished cooking for everyone over a controlled fire and had a feast.  The sun was down and we built up the campfire so it was going pretty good.  Many of the campers were stuffed and sitting in deep chairs and settling down for good company and conversations.  I was standing with my back to the fire talking with someone and enjoying the evening.  I sometimes refer to having eyes in the back of my head or getting the ‘spider-sense tingling’ that something is wrong.  What in memory seems like the same time, I heard alarm and excitement from the group of people sitting close to the fire.  It quickly rose to a definite panic.  Not really knowing what the concern was, I turned around facing the camp fire.  I saw that my youngest granddaughter – very young at the time – had been standing near the fire facing someone in the chairs and did not realize she had backed up too far and had tripped backwards into the center of the fire pit.   People watching were unable to get out of their seats and you could see the panic in their eyes.  I turned quickly and reached down.  I grabbed her shirt in a bunch with one fist and pulled her as hard and as fast as I could.  I slammed her into my chest and gave her a great big hug before she even realized what had happened.

The group relief was ear shattering and was more alarming to her than me plucking her out of the pit.  I think back and consider escape from the amount of pain and suffering for a life time to come.  I thought for a while that this is why I was put on this planet – my work here is done.  Of course it is not and there will be many more stories to tell, but maybe none that made the world a better place like that one quick knee-jerk response.

I would like to hear your most remembered action that made a huge difference to someone else. Let’s celebrate and share those accomplishments in this post.

My First And Only Selfie!

Posted: November 12, 2015 in Photography
Tags: #daughter, #dreams, #family, #journey, #life, #love, #nature, #observation, #personal, #photo, #photography, #story, #wedding, #wife, #writer, #writing

Back before it was the thing to do, my wife and I took this picture. Literally. One of us aimed it and the other one snapped the photo. But this was a special occasion. This is one of the few photos of our wedding. We got married in the winter in a local park overlooking the city. It was an extremely small wedding, but we did have a few uninvited guests. There were a couple of reporters looking for something to write about on a day when there is nothing to write about. They saw my wife and myself, with our daughter Alisa in hand, as we were reading the wedding vows that we had written to each other and exchanging roses. We were standing under the small gazebo in the freezing cold; as calm as you please.

They came up and started a conversation, I figure they thought we were just a couple of crazy people that wanted to know what the heck we were doing. When they realized it was a wedding ceremony, they decided this was something to write about! They took our pictures – the only others taken of our wedding – and wrote an article that ended up on the 1st page of the People – Events section. The article was warm and friendly and captured the humor that you can see in our selfie. If it is true that the bigger and fancier the wedding, the shorter the marriage will be…. we got it made!

Would You Sit Down and Talk to Me?

Posted: October 30, 2015 in Opinions and Observations
Tags: #faces, #family, #friends, #lottery, #lucky, #meet, #meeting, #musician, #photo, #photography, #writer, #writing

In frequent conversations with my family we talk about articles and posts from fellow bloggers and how glad we are that we have met an amazing group of talented people. Many of us have challenges to deal with and we use creativity to describe and/or deal with those challenges. You never fail to amaze and inspire me. From articles that are so funny I can’t stop laughing to personal experiences that are so moving I try not to cry, I look forward to your blog posts and comments. There are those in this community I will keep learning from. The more we learn of each other, the more natural it would seem if we could actually meet.

That is when our conversation shifts to what would you do if you won the lottery or big inheritance (the latter is not possible for me – but still more likely than winning the lottery!!)? We discussed that it would be really cool if we could arrange a common time and place on the globe where we could all meet. Or travel the globe and meet you each one at a time. It would be amazing for me to compare my internal images of fellow bloggers and compare them to actually meeting you. I feel like I know many of you already and I do not think that I would be very surprised by the ‘person’ you are. But I’ll bet in spite of my internal images, I would not recognize any of you if I met you on the street! I would love to record and document the entire meeting. Interview everyone, even have you sing on a few of my songs if you are up for it. Create a community blog of the event. Give promised hugs to a number of you. To see the eyes behind the words. To hear you laugh.

Don’t get me wrong. I love the blog and the openness we can achieve by that same separation. I don’t want a bunch of you knocking on my door at all hours – though I might want to knock on yours!!

Gotta go now and buy my lottery ticket!

Forgetting Your Name

Posted: October 8, 2015 in Opinions and Observations
Tags: #brother, #family, #musician, #personal, #story, #writer, #writing

I have pointed out on more than one occasion that I have a difficulty remembering names and dates. This took its toll in my History grades for sure, but also had dramatic effects growing up and through adulthood. For this I do not apologize other than try to work on ways to reduce that block. I also acknowledge it and inform others that it is not intentional. In two minutes I will forget your name. It is nothing personal. If I had a pen and paper I would write it down and if I can discretely enter in my cell phone I do. If not, your name is gone. I will remember your voice and the conversation. I might be able to remember your face, but that is not guaranteed either.

Fellow bloggers’ names I will trigger more by the Picture/logo/Avatar and tag-line than the personal name. From time to time I will post songs and lyrics from members of the center core I mentioned earlier. I will feature other artists I have worked with as well. For many, I simply do not know the names of the many band members I have recorded or worked with. I hope they will contact me so I can give them credit for all their works and talent.

To that point I do not overlook or diminish the writing partnerships I have had. In the early years we did not think of copyrights or co-authorship. We never discussed mechanical licensing or royalties. Digital rights weren’t even a dream in the Product Development plans. Pay-per-Click (PPC) wasn’t until years in the future. Yet, here we are.

I feel I need to mention that my brother C David Kennedy has been referred to in a number of my posts while relaying the earlier years of poetry and song writing. He is especially proud of his involvement in a few songs I have previously posted; “Red on Your Blue Suede Shoes”(c), “Quiet Nights”(c), “The Pleasure Tax”(c) and “Miracles in Your Hand”©.

It’s A Good Thing He Wasn’t Home That Night

Posted: July 26, 2015 in My Tunes
Tags: #12string, #acoustic, #audio, #create, #creativity, #family, #fire, #gofundme, #guitar, #harmony, #inspiration, #inspire, #loss, #lyrics, #music, #musician, #personal, #recording, #singer, #song, #songwriter, #sound, #story, #thanks, #thankyou, #writer

With your help and a lot of other social groups and individuals, we have helped raise money to help my friend John try to recover from the house fire that happened while he was away. He still has not been able to get home to see the damage and to make plans for the immediate future. I really want to thank all of you for great comments, spreading the word and financial support. My guess is a number of people that do not know him offered support in a number of different ways. I am frankly proud and grateful of the way this blog community responded. Thank you again!

As many of you know I have been a musician for many years and met John when he was hired to work at the same music store I worked in. It is kind of funny as you get older you can talk of personal experiences in terms of DECADES!! Just saying.

Back on track, I wanted to give you an idea of the damage from the fire and the amazing group of local friends that organized without instruction and worked extremely hard to recover as many personal belongings as we could – and the restoration work that continues; and frankly, is really just at the beginning of that phase. I wanted to give you a picture. But we all know that is impossible. You cannot describe the lobbies in Las Vegas hotels or what it feels like in the middle of the ocean to someone that has never been there. We try. We get close. They get the idea, but until you have similar experiences it can be hard to know what those and many other things in life are truly like.

I have been to his house but I still do not have the big picture. The closest I can get is reliving the feeling I had when I came home from one of those rescue missions….. I walked up to my front door and as I started to put the key in the lock I thought; what if all of this is gone? In the difference of a day……. Memories gone. Pictures gone. Music gone. Furniture gone. Everything. Gone.

With those thoughts in mind and my keys in my hand, I wrote this song. I thank all of you for sharing, in so many ways. And while I am at it, thank you for allowing us to share with you.

http://www.gofundme.com/johnvaneaton

https://midimike.com/2015/07/11/please-help-spread-the-word/

Repeating Dreams and Common Themes

Posted: July 19, 2015 in Opinions and Observations
Tags: #creativity, #dreams, #family, #flying, #inspiration, #inspire, #journey, #life, #lucky, #nighmares, #observation, #personal, #story, #writer

After speaking with a number of people over the years I have gotten the impression that I have a few lucky and maybe rare experiences. One of the common conversations revolve around dreams or rather nightmares. Some people have nasty dreams, wake during the night and other symptoms. Other than what I will describe below, I do not think I have EVER had a nightmare or what people would describe as a bad dream.

I do have repeating dreams or dreams with common themes. As a kid, going to the playground was always a treat. Some kids play harder than others. Our family used to compete on how fast you could get going on the swing so you could jump off and land the furthest from the swings! I wish I had some of that wear-and-tear back, but it was a lot of fun at the time! So we would swing really fast, let go and jump as far as you could and get back on the swing and do it again. The closest thing I have had to a bad dream is the dream of swinging as a kid. Everything is the same. Sometimes lots of other kids (I had a big family so us and a few neighbors was a lot) sometimes I am swinging by myself. Beautiful day and I swing really fast and when I get to the fastest/highest point I jump. But now I can see that I am at the edge of a hill, and as I am soaring off the swing the ground below me is dropping off really fast and I am in effect getting higher and higher, even though the swing set is still right behind me at eye level. I am panicking at this point and cannot believe it. Before I have time to think of something to do I notice I am not falling at all but gently soaring, looking down at the valley below. The two seconds of adrenaline are gone and I am enjoying a beautiful view on a sunny day.

If you are brave enough….Give me an idea of dreams (or nightmares) that you have. I think it might tell us a lot about our blogging community.

Update and Appreciation

Posted: July 16, 2015 in My Tunes
Tags: #12string, #acoustic, #audio, #charity, #create, #creative, #creativity, #family, #fire, #gofundme, #guitar, #inspiration, #loss, #love, #lucky, #lyrics, #music, #musician, #performer, #performers, #personal, #poetry, #recording, #singer, #song, #songwriter, #sound, #story, #thanks, #vocalist, #vocals, #writer

I wanted to give everyone an update on my musician friend John (whose house was damaged in a fire). Lots of effort and a lot of good news, even in this sad event. John will be in town soon and will be able to look over the damage and take inventory of the surviving furniture and gear. Until then Alisa has organized the gofundme project http://www.gofundme.com/johnvaneaton which has raised $10,000 so far in less than a week. I think that is going to make a big difference in the next few days and weeks.

There are a number of people still working on cleaning and restoring items that were rescued in the search and recovery phase. Once John gets to look at the various projects, he will have a better idea of how to get back on his feet. We hope to have information from the team that is working on organizing a benefit soon.

https://midimike.com/2015/07/11/please-help-spread-the-word/ this is the original post about these events.

I’m also in the process of writing a song about the events using some guitar chords my wife was playing with recently and a little jam I was working on. Thank you all for getting the word out and helping as much as you can. I have come home from those salvage missions and realize everything that I have could be gone in moments. I am not rich, but the music and memorabilia would be irreplaceable. I will need them when memory loss really kicks in!

This song is for John, everyone who donated money and time to help him and all of you really cool bloggers. I’m going to post the lyrics first while I polish the song, but it will be up shortly.

“A Very Long Night” © 7-13-2015 Lyrics MSK Music MSK/ELK

Traveling for business

He is often out of town

From country to country

One city becomes the next

It wasn’t until he got the text

With pictures from the news

That he knew this was the beginning

Of a Very Long Night

He wasn’t home when the fire started

Everyone says it could have been worse

As we watched, broken hearted

Each tear became another verse

Unable to return any time soon

All my friend could do was watch

Phone calls and e-mail

The news from home was grim.

Some say it was best for him

Being out of town.

Some say it was best for him

He didn’t see it burn down.

Some say it was best for him

Not to see the damage from the flames

Some say it was best for him

As all that water did the same

It was a good thing he wasn’t home that night

It was a good thing he wasn’t home all right

It was just the beginning of a Very Long Night.

Pauline – Yesterday

Posted: July 14, 2015 in Opinions and Observations
Tags: #birthday, #cancer, #death, #family, #father, #goodbye, #life, #loss, #love, #mom, #music, #musician, #personal, #songwriter, #story, #writer

Yesterday was my mother’s birthday. The first birthday since she passed away last December.

I spend a lot of time blaming my mother – and parents in general for my musical interests and open minded philosophy. They each gave me a lot. But my parents divorced in a day when that was not accepted or supported. Six children and single mom. Everything was a struggle. During all of the less fortunate times she managed to plug away toward her goals with her gentle influence. We would do a lot of things other kids would not dream of and she encouraged many of them. But we never wanted to hear her say to us she was disappointed in us……. Having her disappointed was the worst punishment imaginable.

There is no way to know how she guided each of us through early years and then through puberty, early teens and inevitably into kids who knew it all. I am just now putting them together piece by piece, here and there. When my younger brother Chris got really sick I lived close and visited regularly. I was his medical power of attorney and took care of his end of life affairs. Radiation, Chemo, feeding tube, surgeries. Emergency rooms to ICU to Hospice he never lost his smile and wonder. He appreciated everything. At the end I described him as mentally, financially, physically and emotionally exhausted. It takes resources to fight back and he just did not have enough left at that time.

My mother also found out she had a number of cancers. She chose not to take the normal treatments. She chose not to have the normal tests. She chose me to help her with end of life like I did for Christopher. She did not roll over and play dead if that is what you might be thinking. She read and stayed up on current events. She exercised and researched better foods and diet. She got out and enjoyed the change of each season and the change in weather.

Pauline was more interested in making us comfortable and taking care of her extended family than she was in complaining or moping. She controlled her pain and as it got really bad she wanted to be able to have final word; to be able to think and communicate for fear she would have a stroke or complication and not be able to tell them not to resuscitate her. She feared being a vegetable more than anything. She was smart and educated and proud. That was something she did not want to endure. She did not.

When I grow up, I want to be just like her. Birthdays don’t mean much to me – ask my kids – but this one did. Happy Birthday, mom.

Sharing Loss – Please Help Spread The Word!

Posted: July 11, 2015 in Opinions and Observations
Tags: #charity, #daughter, #family, #fire, #gofundme, #guitar, #help, #life, #loss, #music, #musician, #personal, #piano, #signal, #story, #studio, #studioengineer

I have shared a number of experiences that have been about loss. Unfortunately, when you get older, you have more experiences watching the achievements of a life’s work and loves dissolve. There are many types of loss and a personal friend of mine has been going through a very difficult time. I just needed to share my experience and thoughts. Over these posts I have often mentioned working at local music stores and the benefit of knowing some awesome people. One of the friends I worked with for years and formed a great partnership “co-owning” the music store with all those years ago has had a devastating loss. As social media is …. he found out from friend’s texts and e-mails that while he was traveling, his house burnt down. His job is demanding and a lot of people depend on him to be there. He could not get home and as we all need to do from time to time; he had to rely on his friends and family (many times they are the same thing). He is still away and has not seen his home other than on the news and through social media.

I would like to let you know that we have successfully completed the ‘search and rescue’ mission. We got anything we could out of the building during the days of rain with holes in the roof. It was a scramble with trusted friends. We hauled ass and a bunch of other things. Some musical instruments are damaged beyond use or repair and some have hope of restoration or managed to remain untouched by the whole thing! He is a musician and like me has an insatiable love for art, music, friendship and making the world better than it would be without us in it. This has got to be devastating. For me, carrying out each old and precious instrument or piece of gear, had a deep impact. Others worked on his art and personal belongings. I have heard their stories and all have a deep sense of loss. No one was hurt. Many things can be replaced. But as the fire and then the water took their toll, a lot of his life’s work did dissolve.

We are working now on cleaning and saving as much as we can. As my daughter Alisa, who runs my blog, practically grew up in the music store and all my friends, she has known John Van Eaton almost her entire life. She is creating a positive use of social media and spreading the word through this and other avenues. We will have a number of benefits to raise money and support to help him work through this until he is able to come home and the resources he will need once he returns. I will post more info as details come in and thank you – fellow bloggers – for letting me share this with you. The sharing allows healing.

For more details or to contribute to his fund, see below. MIDIMike

http://www.gofundme.com/JohnVanEaton

A Nation United…..Finally!

Posted: June 26, 2015 in Opinions and Observations
Tags: #America, #American, #change, #daughter, #dreams, #equal, #family, #harmony, #inspiration, #inspire, #journey, #life, #love, #lovewins, #marriage, #marriage equality, #marriageequality, #observation, #personal, #proud, #samesex, #scoutus, #story, #truth

Even though I am very concerned and interested in the political challenges of our time, I do not venture into those topics in this blog. My opinions are my opinions. I have my reasons for voting the way I do. Most of you have your own reasons for your private thoughts.

…….. but today I want to acknowledge the announcement by the Supreme Court. You may not agree with me – but in my humble opinion that does not make you my enemy – and I am CERTAINLY NOT YOURS! I am not gay so this does not affect me personally, but it has directly affected one of my daughters. What we have done in the past to many great and loving people was just wrong.

I am so thankful and happy this long battle for something so simple and assumed by so many as basic human rights has been decided. There is a much longer battle ahead. Like prejudice and racism, this is not over and is not easy to implement. We still have so far to go, but let us enjoy this major change and how our country continues to move in the right direction and knows it is in our best interest as a nation and as a people to treat every citizen equally.

I cannot stop smiling!

MidiMike

Available on iTunes and CD Baby

Social Media

MSK original Songs

Posts Tagged ‘#family’

What Have You Done For Them Lately?

My First And Only Selfie!

Would You Sit Down and Talk to Me?

Forgetting Your Name

It’s A Good Thing He Wasn’t Home That Night

Repeating Dreams and Common Themes

Update and Appreciation

Pauline – Yesterday

Sharing Loss – Please Help Spread The Word!

A Nation United…..Finally!

Archives

Available on iTunes and CD Baby

Social Media

MSK original Songs

Posts Tagged ‘#family’

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