Posting daily at 1pm central about all kinds of things. One day it's dating, the next it's TV commercials. I hope you're entertained. Professional photos on SmugMug – https://benwilder.smugmug.com
Nashville is going through it’s normal bipolar disorder this time of year. And it’s pretty much literally bipolar! One day is 70, the next 35. I was about to admit that I’m just about over it but honesty is the best policy so I’ll confess I was over the wintery weather back in October, or whenever we had our first sub-50º day.
But much like that guy in the scene from that movie with the dueling banjos (I’ll spare you any graphic details if you haven’t seen the movie), he had to grin and bear it, if you know what I mean… and with this weather, we’ve all had to do the same thing.
But warmer days have been increasing, and that’s just lovely. I was talking to someone about this very thing, yet she shattered all my hopes and dreams when she said the temp later this week’s going to drop down to the 20s! Did we do something wrong, God? What have we done to deserve this?!? Why don’t You help us when we need You most?
OK, OK, I’m being a little dramatic. It’s not so serious that I’d blame God or anything, but can a guy get some southerly winds up in here?
-Out of the Wilderness
*The link will bring you to Amazon where you can purchase Rescue Dawn, where that quote comes from. As an Amazon Affiliate, I receive a small percentage of any successful transaction made through the link*
This story starts with a little door handle on a little car when a little something went wrong.
I had just returned to the parking lot from a hike to Cummins Falls near Cookeville, Tennessee.
I loaded what gear I’d brought with me into the trunk. Everything was normal. From there I’d get in the car, fasten my seatbelt, drive back to Nashville while contemplating the fun day I’d had so far. Only it didn’t go that way. I couldn’t even get in the car! As soon as I went to get in, snap!, off came the door handle. In haste, I walked around to the passenger side, and quite to my embarrassment there happened to be a couple of folks preparing to go hiking in the car that had parked next to me. The driver side door of their car was open and I had to ask the guy to shut his door so I could open mine. How embarrassing! So I crawled from the passenger side over to the driver side and I’m sure they thought I was a real winner.
To explain why I left the door handle in disrepair for months after this would take awhile, but I’ll sum it up by saying the dealership asked over $100 just to diagnose the problem, and I didn’t want to cave. I was also thinking I’d be buying a new car soon, so I wanted to save money in places I could.
I actually grew accustomed to the new normal. And fyi, I didn’t have to crawl through the passenger side every time. That was a hasty decision that was totally unnecessary. All I’d do now is reach over from the passenger side to either roll the driver side window down (so I could open the door using the inside handle), or just go ahead and open the door, then walk around and get in.
But unlike this unbearably cold Nashville winter, things actually can improve. So last week a friend of mine came over to help me fix this little, yet inconvenient, problem. And it was a warm day, so OK OK yes this cold weather isn’t lasting forever. 🙂
We looked up a couple of YouTube videos to help instruct us on how and what to do. It was a struggle, though. The thing about small cars is there isn’t much space to get in to do work. So we took turns twisting our hands and/or bodies to get access to the lock mechanism that we believed was the “key” to solving this problem.
It was a fun time. We had Lightning 100 on the radio, which I wouldn’t think would be good music for working on cars, but it is. It helps to keep the heart rate down, and so even when we couldn’t figure out certain things, which might be frustrating, the music kept us mellow.
Eventually we were able to reinsert the handle to it’s proper place, which was a real surprise. I thought I’d need to buy new parts to replace broken ones. But the handle was back and ready for business! What we discovered, though, is the part of the handle that caps the key lock is critical to the handle staying in place. So to keep the handle from popping off again as it did that day at Cummins Falls, I’d have to be gentle with it. OK, I can do that. I am Gentle Ben after all, right?
The new normal became the old normal and all was well. For a day.
One day.
You see, the very next morning the handle went pop!, and off it came… again. A few days after an order from RockAuto.com I was back to where I’d started. This time, just me and the pups in the carport trying to fix a little problem with a little door handle on a little car.
I got a little frustrated and a little disheartened but after a little effort and a little more effort and a little praying, bing!, it worked! The key cover cap I had to purchase was in place, the handle was in place, and now I feel like I have new car. Seriously, I feel like having a door handle is a royal luxury and now every time I get in my car, I’m opening up my chariot!
A few weeks ago, I was thrilled to set up a date for the coming weekend. During the days leading up to the planned date anticipation began building, and anticipation can be your best friend or your worst enemy. On one hand, it can leave you feeling very deflated if what you’re looking forward to doesn’t materialize. But what I was hoping for was on the other hand.
Unfortunately, the weekend didn’t go how I envisioned. The date was cancelled (for legitimate reasons) so I was left with a blank slate for that particular night. Even with the cancellation, I was determined to go on a date. I reached out to a few other potential leads, only to come up empty.
So I’ll be honest, I was upset about it. I let doubts creep in. I became my worst critic, assuming the things I don’t like about myself are what these potential dates don’t like either. I had a pity party that lasted more than a day. Maybe a couple of days… or three.
There are a few take-aways from this experience:
I like when I’m more even-tempered. When things don’t go my way or something happens that shakes things up, just roll with it. Be breezy, as Monica would say. My problem is, much like Monica, breezy is not my strong suit.
I heard this a few years ago and I still love it. Whether it’s in relationships, job opportunities, any scenario where you’re taking a risk by putting yourself out there, “Rejection is God’s protection.” So maybe this “date fail” wasn’t a failure at all.
No matter what happens, I won my fantasy football league this past year. And it feels amazing.
I was downtown last night for a concert (click here for pics from Phillip Phillips at 3rd and Lindsley), and had a bit of time beforehand to walk around. There’s obviously so much more that one can admire, but here are a few pics. It was a bit chilly, but otherwise a very pleasant night. I even got to meet a cool group of kids. When we were there age, my brother and I would’ve loved to have ridden our bikes around with them! This area is on the east side of the Cumberland, so check it out sometime…
Last night a friend and I met up for the Phillip Phillips show in Nashville, Tn.
(I took these photos of Nashville before the arriving to the show)
I won’t say much and I’ll let the pictures do the talking, but in a nutshell it was a fantastic show. The opening band, Striking Matches, were amazing. Guitar wizards, engaging personalities, fun, and on top of that– good music! Always a winning combo. Phillip Phillips took the stage and continued the good music, along with an endearing awkwardness that is a small sliver of what made him so likable on American Idol. I say a small sliver, because the biggest sliver was his talent, of course. He played music from his latest album, and all of it was so good. He wrapped the show with the song that made him instantly memorable on American Idol– Thriller by Michael Jackson; Phillip’s soft-spoken intro to it, “I didn’t write this song.” This exemplifies something my friend and I liked about him, not a man of many words, he was unpolished (in a great way), shown in another song intro, “I wrote this song about a guy I didn’t like.” Ya know, sometimes that’s all the info you need! 🙂
Check out pics from the show below, and if you have the chance to see Phillip or Striking Matches, don’t hesitate, you’ll be glad you decided to go…
Out of the Wilderness 