passing notes

I was at a friend's birthday party last night and chatted briefly with Matt Slocum. While we were talking I remembered that he wrote one of my most favorite song lyrics ever:

"Tension is to be loved when it is like a passing note to a beautiful, beautiful chord."

It was on a Sixpence album a while back but it comes to mind at least a few times a year. I wish I had written it but I am not sure I could have put words to that thought as eloquently as he did. I'm not really one for tension, for dissonance. Dissonance is defined as "a simultaneous combination of tones conventionally accepted as being in a state of unrest and needing completion." I tend to retreat when I sense that conflict is near. In my life tension has often led to brokeness instead of rest. The dissonance of this past year has been anything but loved; I have hated almost every single moment of it. But Slocum's words remind me that the beauty of a chord is fully appreciated when one has experienced the dissonance of its unrest. I find that I am restless, living in the midst of a tension that longs for relief. I think this is what it feels like to hope--to live in a way that anticipates something beautiful, to believe that one day the tight knot will loosen its grip.
t

Kids say the darndest things: #1

I love working with kids. LOVE it. One of my favorite things about talking with kids are the random questions that they ask in the middle of seemingly normal conversations. Here are some of my favorites from this past month:

kid: Did your mom ever go to college?
me: yes she did.
kid: did she just graduate?
me: she graduated a long time ago.
kid: oh....did she go to college to learn how to be a cave-woman?
me: (OMG!!!...PLEASE don't tell me I look old enough to have a cave-woman for a mother!) No, she went to college to be a teacher.
kid: oh...well, I guess that's ok too.

kid: Do you watch TV?
me: yes I do.
kid: Do you watch Dora?
me: nope
kid: Do you watch sponge Bob?
me: no
kid: Do you watch cartoons?
me: not really
kid: well, what DO you watch--the news?
me: I watch shows about cooking and famous people.
kid: like Michael Jackson?
me: no, like Kristin Cavallari.
kid: who?!
me: errr...never mind...yes, I watch the news.

kid: Do you watch TV? (This seems to be a popular question)
me: yes I do.
kid: what do you watch?
me: (sigh)...the news...
kid: like BET?
me: ummm....you mean the channel with music videos on it?
kid: yep.
me: yeah, sometimes I watch BET.
kid: yeah, that's my favorite news channel.
me: (smile)

Yep, some of my favorites. And there's plenty more where that came from...
t