The Good Life

This was one of those weekends where you sit back and wonder, how did I get such a perfect life?

The right job, the beautiful woman beside me, a breeze cooling the afternoon sunlight from my face, and somewhere out in the yard the soft sound of children playing. That's when it hits you—things couldn't be better. Gives you pause to consider.

What a perfect weekend.

Started out Friday when I got home around noon after a good day's work and rode my John Deere out across the estate. They give you a cool “Owner's Edition” hat to wear while you mow. And I do, waving to other neighbors riding theirs. Short even has a nice Deere jacket. Not sure how he scored that, but he's a farmer, so he probably knows (or is) someone who paid 200K for it. I hear they offer your choice of a tractor or combine with the purchase...

Wayne and Barb visited for several hours that night. We ordered one of the World's Greatest Pizza's from Filippo's. It was fun. The kids watched Benji in the other room and the four of us had a good time catching up.

Then it was Tent Time.

Earlier I had set up the tent after mowing. Wow is that thing huge. I can stand up straight and stretch out over my head. And the floor plan is spacious. There's enough room in there to make you think you should owe someone rent.

Seriously. Installing a kitchenette should be a breeze.

Still don't believe me? Check this out. .. we can pitch an additional tent inside and not even notice it being there, just fit it over in the corner, or the East Wing as I call it. Aw yeah. So that's where the boys sleep—the tent inside The Tent. Lisa and I get the main living quarters. Dining / breakfast to our left. Of course that is after watching sunrise from the comfortable porch. Also, I was mistaken about the two entrances.

There are three.

This way if a bear AND a wolf are trying to enter two of them, you can escape unscathed out the third and still have time for cornflakes.

Sleeping out there that night was fabulous. It was cool to hear Luke awe at the stars during our walk across the yard, flashlights waving. We are definitely doing this more often, and maybe not limited to the backyard either. It's time, and there are some fine places around here to camp.

Then Saturday, Steve was down and we the day rehearsing our songs, hanging out at my place, and otherwise having a kick-back time.

What a phenomenal player, Steve, bassist for Elevenfold. Dude has some chops, and they really made a difference to the tunes. Keith created some crazy feel to his tight rhythms and they both kept playing off one another, like the Rhythm should, honing the hits until it was just... indescribable. You have to hear it. I kind of felt inadequate there for a moment, but once we started, thought nothing of it. Because we rock.

So much so that Steve said next time he's bringing his bass stack. The little amp in Keith's basement OD'd after awhile and was really distorting. Plus some of the lower frequencies were getting lost. (When you detune a five string's Low B to a Low G, it gets bassy.) Good news is that we've scheduled more practices.

Thinking back, it was kind of crazy what he showed up with. It's like he had heard in his head what I heard for the bass lines in mine. We all just seem to musically connect in ways we necessarily don't quite understand, but embrace and move on. Like we're meant for it. Certainly makes playing together all the easier. And fun.

And now it's Sunday.

What beautiful spring weather. You couldn't have a better day to just sit back, have a drink and enjoy. It's simply been unbelievable. Just makes you wonder.