My parents had one of those big console stereos in the living room when I was a kid. It was under the front picture window most of the year. The only time it wasn’t was at Christmas time when the tree took its place.
Next to it was a wooden case that my father built and stained to match the console.
My parents probably had forty, fifty maybe sixty record albums that I couldn’t touch. If I touched a single album, I would be the first person to know what next week will be like.
It was the early 1970’s. All of the singer songwriters of that period were represented. Carole King, James Taylor, Jim Croce and Judy Collins. They listened to jazz singers like Sinatra, Prima and Ella. Classical music from Dvorak to Chopin. My dad was partial to George Gershwin and my mom enjoyed Scott Joplin. Dad liked British marching bands and mom liked Gregorian Chant.
The one genre that was well represented was modern Broadway musicals. The one I was partial to was “Man of LaMancha.”
I knew the lyrics to “The Impossible Dream” backwards and forwards. I would stand on the coffee table and sing it with Richard Kiley. It was the first time that I remember both of my parents applauding me.
Not only did I know the lyrics, but the words became an anthem for Don and Cecilia’s only child.
Before Walter Payton I had Don Quixote. He taught me to persevere and fight the odds. That everything is obtainable if you have hope and stand up for your values.
I have such grand memories of laying on the living room floor and escaping to The Spanish Inquisition or King Arthur’s Camelot. I would run down hills listening to the sound of music. Look up on the roof for a fiddler. Join a band with seventy-six trombones or meet a beautiful girl named Maria.
Happy Sunday Funday. It is Bear/Packer Day. I’m going over to pick up a book at the library and maybe watch cooking shows on PBS. I won’t watch the Packers slap the snot out of the Bears.
The best holiday of the year is just eleven days away. I can’t wait to hear George Winston and put on my new Dick Butkus jersey first thing Thanksgiving morning.
Get your Christmas lights up today and enjoy them. On January sixth when the three kings arrive, you’ll have to take them down.
Never give up your quest to pursue your impossible dream.
