You've Got to Stay Positive

Well, again it appears that I have fallen off the face of the earth and have gone without writing for a VERY long stretch this time. For the faithful few followers, I apologize. But chances are, my personal time space continuum will lapse again in the future. It happens.

But, it is the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving. This has been a night that has been marked with a number of memories over the years. Friends that I grew up with in my hometown that are back there or never left are likely at one place and one place only tonight...Howard's Club H in Bowling Green, OH. Unfortunately, I have not been back to Howard's in a long time. But I am thinking of my friends and thankful to know, and in some cases, to have known them all.

My family will be doing some travelling this weekend and heading to our regular destination, where I will see a good deal of my family, with the exception of my brother and his brood. This will mark one of the few times (sans hockey tournaments growing up) that my brother and I will not see each other over this weekend. The reason why? Well, my brother and his wife who were already blessed with a son (my godson) experienced the joy of twins a number of months ago. Logistically, it makes sense for my brother and his family to stay connected to their home base this year.

So, where does all of this leave my mindset? Ironically, as I was driving home from work tonight, I was thinking of my old hometown and the night before Thanksgiving tradition and the fact that I would not be seeing my brother this weekend. All obvious set-ups for me to focus on the maudlin instead of the positive. In that moment, or several moments to make this a bit less cliché', the song "You've Gotta Stay Positive" by "The Hold Steady" came on my iPod. First of all, if you haven't heard of The Hold Steady, I highly recommend them. But second of all, the song makes you want to rock out and genuinely want to stay or become positive. Further irony is that my brother and I stumbled across this band somewhat at the same time and shared fully paid for and licensed songs off of various albums. The end game is that despite life changes, obstacles, personal tragedies, transitions, down economies, global warming, the erosion of good oral hygiene, etc. life can still be trended to the positive if you take yourself there.