Melody of Memories: Another Time and Another Place
Talkin’ ‘bout the good old times, braggin’ on how it used to be …
Dad worked at Builders Transportation (BTC) and we knew that life running a truck lines was stressful. Fortunately, when we were kids, cell phones hadn’t come around. So when Dad left the office, he was actually able to get away from the office.
And on those weekends at Pickwick, nothing about Builders seemed to matter.
At that time technology consisted of a marine radio, faithfully kept on channel 16, and a collection of tapes for the tape deck on the Bayliner. As Clint Black sang: “That was another time and another place.”
By the time we had the place at Lands of Pickwick, we were pretty much a full blown lake family. I remember summers where Mom would take us over mid-weeks and we’d have a shot at skiing that ‘butter smooth’ water. And most of the weekends followed a familiar rhythm - Saturday morning we’d load up the boat at Scotty’s and the John Deere tractors would drop us in the water across from Aqua. We’d idle out of the little harbor and then high-tail it for Yellow Creek.
Us three boys would take turns all day - trying to outdo each other on the skis, kneeboard and tube. Dad would run us down from Yellow Creek past Goat Island and down to the mouth of the Tombigbee. We’d loop back around to Yellow Creek on repeat for what still seems like hours at a time.
Then every once in a while we’d stop.
Dad would slow down the boat.
Mom would throw out the anchor.
We’d get out and swim.
And then the music would come on.
At the time, Clint Black’s album Killin’ Time was in the rotation! And the song Nothing’s News was the one I liked best.
When I hear that song, I am transported back to those good old times. The opening steel guitar crying over the top of that locked in rhythm section, Rhodes-sounding electric piano, and Clint singing about that good old country sound, and talkin’ ‘bout the good old times, braggin’ on how it used to be …
And most of all I remember Dad - sitting in that Captain’s chair. Relaxed. Chilled out. Cool.
As a kid, I don’t think I thought much about it … you never realize the weight that a Dad carries. Running any business is tough. Raising kids is tough. Providing for a family is tough.
Looking back, those weekends weren’t just for us boys. They also were for him, too.
The water has a way of getting us to slow down. And so does a great song.