Thoughts on various topics that have crossed my way in the last few days:
I’m still enjoying preparing the obituaries for both the newspaper and the website, which I have been doing for the past 10 months. Except on the days when there are a bunch of them; those are hectic afternoons.
Since most of the obituaries are sent by email, they’re a lot less difficult to prepare. Copying and pasting the information into our software is much quicker than retyping something that’s already been typed up once, and this system prevents a lot of human errors.
I also appreciate the family members who take the time to write their deceased relative’s story. It’s always best when someone who knew the person well does this. They make sure to get the details right.
I know these obituaries are written mostly for the funeral service program, or for the funeral home website, but the wonderful things that ordinary people did during their lives are great to read about. I’m glad these continue to appear in our publications.
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If there is a downside to doing the obituaries, it’s that at age 63, I know or recognize the names of too many of the people who are in them.
As one example, I was sorry to see that Amelia Nash passed away this week. She and her husband Spencer lived in Pike County for a long time but had moved to Greenville. She was one of the nicest people I ever met.
We got to know each other about 20 or 25 years ago, when we were both on a local advisory board of the Partnership for a Healthy Mississippi, a statewide anti-tobacco organization started by Mike Moore, the attorney general.
My favorite memory of that board involved Mrs. Nash, though I don’t recall many of the details. But something controversial had come up, and it was up to the local board to make a decision. I have absolutely no recollection of what it involved.
What I remember is leaving the meeting. Mrs. Nash and I were walking out. We greeted each other but didn’t say much else.
Suddenly she blurted out something like, “I didn’t get on this board to decide things that were going to make people mad.”
I completely understood. I joined the board as a favor to someone, as Mrs. Nash probably had, too. It was an advisory board, not elected office. Nobody wanted to tackle a hot topic.
She said what most of the board members probably thought. I always got a chuckle out of her remark, even though the specifics of the issue have eluded me.
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At First Christian Church last Sunday, I did something I’ve never done before: I went to the pianist at the end of the service and praised one of the songs she played.
Jackie Andrews is a really good piano player. When she’s playing a song, I enjoy watching her hands and fingers move across the keyboard. Last week, she hit a home run with “Across the Universe,” a John Lennon song on the “Let It Be” album that I never have liked very much.
But Jackie’s performance was majestic, and I told her so afterward. She said she wondered if anyone would recognize a Beatles song, and that she really liked this particular arrangement.
I told her that, compared to the band’s recording of the song, she outplayed them. She cut through the album’s electronic distortion of the music to perform what really is a beautiful melody. There are several piano performances of “Across the Universe” on You Tube that are worth a look.
Some traditionalists might say Beatles songs shouldn’t be played in church. But this particular song, written in 1968, is more than 50 years old. Most of their songs are older than that. Not too many decades from now the Fab Four’s tunes will be considered a form of classical music.
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Our daughter Audrey got to town Wednesday with her two sons, 2 1/2-year-old Henry and one-month-old Fitz.
The change of routine has been exciting for Henry, and he has been unable to go to sleep on time.
Late Thursday night, he was reporting the day’s news to his Uncle John and me — mostly that his mama had been mean to him and that Scarlett the border collie was bad because she was digging in the yard. It’s really entertaining stuff.
Finally, Mary Ann convinced Henry to come lie down with her, and they went to sleep. I checked on them a little later, and it still amazes me how special a sleeping, motionless child looks.
No way could I disturb that. I slept in Thomas’ bed Thursday night.
