Here’s the opening of this week’s podcast. If you like it, go to www.dicksummer.com/podcast for the rest.
I was sitting here in my big, manly, comfortable, black leather poppa chair in the living room trying to think of what happened in my life this week that you might find interesting, and some of the voices in my head said, “Nothing happened this week.” Then I remembered hearing an old Coca Cola jingle on the radio that said, “Nothing beats the taste of Coke,” and all the voices in my head said, “Wow…”nothing” must be powerful stuff. They’re telling me it even beats the taste of Coke.” Think about it. Sometimes when I’ve done something really dumb, and my Lady Wonder Wench gets very quiet…for a long time…I ask her, “What’s the matter” she says, “Nothing.” And all the voices in my head get together in four part harmony and sing a line from the Star Spangled Banner. The one about “The rockets red glare, and the bombs bursting in air.” That “Nothing” stuff is pretty powerful stuff. It reminds me of a story in my book Staying Happy Healthy And Hot… available at Amazon.com. Part of the story goes like this:
“There’s a snapshot in my head that I think I’ll frame and keep somewhere very close to where I live. My Lady Wonder Wench and I were taking a little walk in the park across the street from our hotel, and we saw an old guy sitting on a park bench. He was doing nothing-just sitting—not even reading—just sitting. As we walked past, I noticed a brass plaque on his bench. It said, “In memory of Amelia, my wife and my best friend. She’s saving me a seat now.” I didn’t let go of my Lady’s hand for quite a while. My Lady Wonder Wench has told me that her face in the mirror doesn’t look at all like the face I see when she’s lying on her pillow in the first light of dawn, slowly opening those soft blue eyes and turning the whole world the color of a Summer sky. That’s the face I’ve seen for all these years, smiling and crying, and eating lobster on vacation, and cheering for the New York Mets. I know she has no idea how beautiful she is. It’s fascinating, looking carefully at your own face in the mirror. It’s like meeting somebody who knows you, but you can’t quite remember him. I was thinking about that when we were walking in the park and we saw that old guy sitting on the bench lost in…nothing. His eyes were wide open, but it was obvious that he was seeing a face the rest of us didn’t know about. A face he’d seen waking up on the pillow next to him in the morning for a lot of years…his Amanda…smiling and crying, mybe cheering for some baseball team, and now she’s saving him a seat right next to her—just like he asked her to do.”
That “Nothing” is powerful stuff.
NOTHING LIKE IT, RICHARD!!!!!