Sunday Morning Coming Down -Johnny Cash 1970
After working all week, we would often celebrate on Saturday night with good food and refreshments. Of course, then there was Sunday. On that day, we would all get up, load up, and show up in a tiny country town in Indiana called Elizabeth. It was there that we would meet at the local race track. We would give it hell on two wheels right along with the locals. In looking back, I am not even sure why? I guess it was for no apparent reason🤣😂. I am confident that everyone remembers some period in their life like that. It was a simple time, but it was a great time.
I remember one Sunday when some lady showed up in a station wagon with her four kids. They were glued to the fence as Mom would take that family car down the track. She kept the rear seats folded down. The cooler inside, full of drinks would slide to the rear when she left the line. The kids would cheer her on and holler almost as loud as the rest of us! It was great!!
Many Sundays during that time, I would be at this tiny spot in Indiana. Thinking back, It was eye-opening how we chose to spend our day. But I think more importantly, much more importantly, it was that we chose to spend it together. Something that we all had to re-learn the importance of in 2020 during Covid.
Most of these shots were taken from 1979. While they may not be the best quality photos, they remind me of two important lessons my brother taught me. 1) Take a picture every day of your life. That was a tall order, but I have done my best. 2) There will be clarity even in the absence of clarity in the pictures that you take.
This race track has long been closed. Mother nature has grown over the asphalt, and the structures are all gone. Even the telephone pole with that big loudspeaker on it has vanished. The one where the announcer shared time with the best country music of that era. During those simple times, “you just run what you brung,” and no one really cared. Sometimes, I think we could have just had foot races or played cards, and it would have had the same effect. Following a lightning strike at the tower one day, we did just that! It was one of the most memorable days!
I am unsure why I woke up this morning and immediately went to 1979?? I think it was the Johnny Cash song I heard. Or maybe just my wake-up call to engage. Engage in life as if it could be my last day. No matter how complex things may seem right now, just don’t let a day slip by unaccounted for.
2022 is almost here. I hope you have already made plans for every single day next year. Especially Sundays. Make plans so big right now that you will look back forty-two years from now and laugh!! Laugh out loud!! Then, silently smile. Smile because you chose to engage. That you didn’t let precious time slip away, and you did your best to live life big. But most of all, in your own way, you reminded the closest ones around you to do the same thing.
End of Story
-Forever the Student
Mark Krauss
