Remembering This Day And The Joys It Held

This was a fantastic day! Fellowship and music for 13 hours, and now it is drawing to a swift close. New friends met, old friends greeted, and not a single thing to dampen the spirit other than a little rain late in the evening. Musicians, Lord, I thank you for musicians! Twenty miles from my doorstep a studio beckoned early this morning, and that was the beginning. Out in the country, just far enough that the rabbits don't run away when you're walking around where they live, was my location for 8 great hours. For those of you haven't been afield much, rabbits, even in the wild in SD, are very tame. Why would they be any other way, nobody ever bothers them and the rest of us that walk through their world are only momentary interruptions( if even that). This is SD where the entire state is comprised of less than a million people. If you talk to anyone from here, and you happen to be from here, you both know a lot of the same people. That never ceases to amaze me! In the process of meeting new guys that play I learned that although we come from different areas of the state, we all worked the same places during the sixties and seventies, and we all know dozens of the same people. Every state has a history and a heritage to be proud of, and ours is no different, only ours tends to hinge on the "big things" that get SD attention, other than the "big thing" that makes us totally unique in the country today. Mount Rushmore is a national monument, the Corn Palace in Mitchell is the only one like it in the world, and the other high spots you can read about for yourself. The thing you won't read much about, though, has to do with the people and their collective personality based on numbers. Because we're few, we are mighty in the sense of how we deal with one another and how we deal with the stranger in our midst. We're like the rabbits, there really is no need to be alarmed for any reason. I'm sure this sounds like a naive approach to life in the 21st century, but I think if you're one of those folks who is also a non-threatening individual you will find an entire state where you can wander and spend time with people that you'll love meeting. Who knows, you may even wish to come live here, but I hope not too many do because that would put an end to some of what I'm writing about. The communities would be altered for ever. We've probably got all the bad stuff the rest of the world has, you just have to look harder to really find it. Just a quick tap on the calculator just informed me that I'm a blood relation to about 1% of the people in the state. Whoosh, where else in the US could one find that much togetherness? (Don't even go there, I know what you thought of, and yes, it is possible) Just please remember this, if you want to meet the people you have to go where they are, and that means actually setting aside the regular tourist stops. Stop at the visitors place on the interstate, or at a service station, get a map, and find the places where the rabbits don't run when they see you coming. That's when you'll know you've arrived in the heart of SD. In Christ's Love, Preacher.