Daniel - 65 Ford + Musical Message

Clyne's 65 Ford will now be lovingly cared for by Daniel Byrd.  I have been meaning to post about this for a bit.  There were 4 Veal relatives in the drawing and one honorary family member - Luis.  Two of them dropped out after finding out Daniel and Abby were interested.  Mostly, everyone wanted to make sure that the truck stayed in the family.  I think that has more to do with their love of Clyne than the fact that the truck is really amazing.  However, it's a pretty fine truck.  I'm going to miss it.

Daniel and Luis will be looking it over this weekend and starting the process of seeing what needs to be done.  That should be fun.

Daniel sent me a check in this wonderful card along with a great background story...  Rudy has apparently been sending musical messages again.  He's really staying busy up there!  I've written about one or two, but truly, these crazy music stories are popping up all over.

Daniel's wife, Denise, bought this card several weeks ago even though she had no idea who she'd send it to.  She just knew she liked it.  This week Daniel asked her if she had any cards around because he wanted to send me a check, even though I said he could wait til he saw me.  She gave him the card.  The reference to music brought up the strange things that have been happening lately to so many people - it's like Rudy is playing music for lots of us.  Daniel and Denise had the TV on during this conversation.  It was the Braves pre-game and the players were all warming up.  As Daniel and Denise were discussing music and Rudy, Daniel suddenly noticed a song that started playing at the stadium - Simple Man by Lynyrd Skynyrd.  This song was one of the songs on the fabulous photo video Denise Wilcox made for Rudy's farewell get-together.  Often, only snippets of stadium songs are played at games, but Daniel said the entire song was played... right when Denise and Daniel were discussing musical messages from Rudy.  Coincidence?  I think not.

Messages on the Radio

It's amazing how often a song comes on the radio that seems like a direct message.  It seems to happen to me mostly in the car. Today, as I was doing a number of errands, my mind was wandering all over the place, mostly missing Rudy and feeling real sorry for myself.  In the midst of it all a song came on I'd never heard before, with words I feel sure I was meant to hear.

There were several parts of the song that I found especially meaningful -

...I don't take my life for granted

I'm gonna hold on tight

To what I've been handed

...I'll try not to complain

About the things I have lost

Cause when you have something great

That just means there's a greater loss

...So when you look at yourself

Tell me who do you see

Is it the person you've been

Or the person you're gonna be

...Why don't you hold on tight

To what you've been handed

Cause you just don't know how long you will have it.

That song was big nudge to me to stop thinking the way I have been thinking lately.  I seem to be stuck in a dark place where I honestly can't picture what my life could possibly be like without Rudy.  The song didn't take that feeling away, but it at least nudged me to try.

Once the song was over, I immediately questioned myself.  Was this song really a sign?  Or am I just so crazy that I'm seeing signs everywhere?  Maybe I'm just grasping for something.  If that's the case, then the very next song that played knocked me right over the edge.

There's a John Prine song that always gave Rudy a big chuckle.  He always said he wanted it played at his funeral.  We actually considered doing just that and most people who knew Rudy well would have gotten a kick out of it, but it wouldn't exactly have been in good taste.  It's on one of Rudy's CDs, but hearing it on the radio is a pretty rare occurrence.  It was the very next song that played.  OMG.

So.... do I believe in signs?  Yes I do.  Call me crazy.  I don't care.  Rudy continues to make me laugh.   Between tears.