Melody of Memories: Stardust
The melody haunts my reverie
When we were kids, my parents took James, Jesse & I to Pickwick regularly. What started out as tent camping with Coleman stoves and lanterns, grew into a Jayco pop up camper and a Bayliner. Ghost stories. Riding bikes. Sitting around the camp-fire with marshmallows. Late night walks to the “Secret Rock”. And then there was that tape …
It opens with classical guitar picking, then the whirl of the Hammond B3 and then Willie: “Sometimes I wonder…”
When we were younger, Mom and Dad would use Willie Nelson’s Stardust album to put us kids to bed. It was actually a family tradition - my Uncle Cookie and Aunt Elane did the exact same thing with my cousins. Those songs are programmed into our family DNA. And the most incredible thing is how well that album travels across time. It is something that Laurie and I play(ed) for Trip and Emmie … and it even has a way of calming down a puppy dog, too!
The album has a way of bringing me back to a simpler time and place.
My parents didn’t necessarily grow up camping or water-skiing. They certainly knew how to do both, but building a life around those things was just one of those visionary, highly creative choices they made for our family of five. They knew that the 3 of us boys needed room to grow, a safe place to stay busy, and an outlet to work together. That water became our home away from home.
Outside of our sports, Pickwick was our way of life – and it stayed that way for nearly two decades. I was around twelve when Dad and Mom bought the place in the Lands of Pickwick - the spot that our friends and family would remember. We had this amazing view – sitting up on the bluff, overlooking the Tennessee River and the Islands - there were 3 islands at the time!
The wrap around patio overlooking it all was host to many good times. On summer nights, the smell of Citronella candles would burn back the swarm of summer mosquitos. And while the chirping of crickets and buzzing of locusts would compete for our attention, the low hum of a barge pushing down river would drift in the wind.
And somewhere in my mind there always will remain … my Stardust memories.