Rockabilly Blues

Ok, so I have these friends. Friends from down at home whom I've known since grade school. There are 4 of them--these good old boys who grew up poor on a farm (one without plumbing altogether) and know what it is to work hard just to get by, and they've grown up and married each others' sisters, and settled down...into these urban or suburban academia-type lives. You see, the gene pool in this particular area was pretty deep, and they are all 4 pretty brilliant guys. Anomalies, by home's standards. 2 college professors, a working writer (they exist!), and an IT professional. They're on Facebook, and it's kind of like tuning into my favorite radio morning show to check and see what they're up to. Invariably, they're brewing some sort of homebrew. They're also writing haiku about hunting hickory chickens, grilling out, and wading in the creek. One of them tends toward constant introspection (the writer), and can turn the ordinary into the poignant, in just a few words. Another tends to be irreverent about all that I hold dear, but he's got such a good heart that lots of times I'll tease him just to make him think. Sometimes I comment on their conversations, and sometimes I just watch them unfold like a tapestry as they uninvent, reinvent, tell old tales, and basically pass the time the way their daddies are still doing up at the local store, with a can of Skoal in their pockets and a checker board in front of them, just in case one gets it in his mind to play.

I always log off smiling, a tad homesick, and with an urge to play a little more mainstream Rascal Flatts in my car with the window rolled down and the sun hitting the side of my face. Usually I must settle for kicking off my shoes and wiggling my toes for a few minutes before returning to my life.

Today, they're waxing poetic about the midlife crises they can't wait to have as soon as life settles down. I chimed in on this one, because of course I've planned mine out, even down to the phrase I'll be babbling over and over (like Goldie Hawn in Overboard.... Uh, buh buh buh buh.... Her phrase, not mine...)

I'm smiling now, as I type this in bed, thinking about how life isn't so harried that I'm there, YET, but tickled at the knowledge that if I do end up running to my midlife crisis spot, I'm likely to be in good company. There are some good old guys I know out there...just looking to make a little noise while they complete the tasks they have to complete for another day.
Makes me want to write a haiku.