The Collards Song

This blog is going to be kind of silly.  In other words, one of my favorite ones to write and hopefully one of your favorite ones to read.

I haven't posted a new blog in a week since the beginning of the Masters Week.  M and I left South Carolina on Thursday, stopped to see Barclay and Sarah and the grandkids, then came home on Friday.  Plus, there was a lot of golf to watch, so who has time to write a blog.  Right?

I had a few ideas in my head for possible columns/blogs, but nothing concrete.  But at worship this morning, two things happened that made the light go on and realize I had a column already written in my head.

First, a little background.  Will Young led our singing this morning at the Sherrod Ave Church of Christ or SA for short.  He is not our normal song leader, that would be Kaleb Suggs.  But he was excused today because late Thursday night, his wife Morgan gave birth to their second child, who also happens to be their second daughter. So Will led our singing this morning.

As a side to that, having an April 10th birthday, the newest Suggs girl has the same birthday as two of my favorite people, Miss Peggy Murphy, who turned 94 on Thursday, just a wonderful, wonderful lady, and Allison Blair, who did not turn 94.  Just thought I'd throw that in for free.

Anyway, back to the story, the second thing that spurred my little brain into action was a conversation I had with Susan Easley after worship.  We just happened to be leaving the auditorium at the same time, and I said something along the line of, "how is my favorite comedienne doing today?"  Those may or may not have been my exact words, but something like that.  She looked at me like I had worms coming out of my ears and said, "who, me?"  Yes, of course, you silly girl.  In my warped opinion, Susan is one of the funniest people I know.  Her FB posts almost always make me laugh.  We chatted a bit as we walked to get coffee, agreeing laughter is indeed the best medicine and it helps just to be a little bit warped, which we both are.

So Will leading singing, and having a brief chat with Susan, led me to today's blog.  Collards!

I know you are scratching your heard or rolling your eyes thinking, has Dalton lost it, what in the world do collards have to do two with the seemingly separate incidents at SA today.  Normally I would say you would be right.  But if you dig deeper into my brain, you would know why.  But then again, you still might not understand.

Have you ever heard a song on the radio and made-up new lyrics, you know, funny lyrics.  Or perhaps, taken a familiar tune and inserted your own lyrics?  Of course you have, we all have.  It is the latter that I need to confess.

Our second song today was "The Glory-Land Way," a wonderful old hymn written in 1924 by James Samuel Torbett.

The first verse and refrain of the hymn go like this.

"I'm in the way, the bright and shining way, I'm in the glory-land way.

Telling the world that Jesus saves today, yes, I'm in the glory-land, glory-land way

I'm in the glory-land, glory-land way, I'm in the glory-land, glory-land way;

Heaven is nearer and way groweth clearer, for I'm in the glory-land, glory-land way."

It is a beautiful song with great words, and the 300 or so in attendance at SA this morning sang it with everything they had.

Now let's back track a bit.  I like collards.  That is a lie, I love collards, cooked with bacon and smothered with Louisiana Hot Sauce.  We grow them in our garden, eat what we can when they are fresh, then freeze the rest.  They freeze very well, and we enjoyed collards from our garden most of the winter.

When we ran out of our own collards, we would buy "Glory" brand collards.  They are a company, I think based in South Carolina.  They sell all sorts of canned fruits and veggies, including collards that are almost as good as home grown.  A month or two ago, M was making dinner and had opened a can of Glory collards to have with the rest of our dinner.  As my son Barclay would say, they were glorious.  So glorious in fact, while we were still eating, I burst into song, using a familiar tune, just putting in my own lyrics.

"I'm in the way, the bright and shining way, I'm in the Glory Foods, Glory Foods way.

I love their collards, I eat them every day, yes, I'm in the glory Foods way.

I'm in the Glory Foods, Glory Foods way, yes, I'm in the Glory Foods, Glory Foods way.

I love their collards, I eat them every day, yes, I'm in the Glory Foods way."

M actually stopped eating, looked at me and said, "ok, that one was pretty good."

So every time we have collards, I break into song.

As we were driving to church this morning, M was looking at the songs we were going to sing.  Good singers, like M, do that.  Bad singers, like me, don't.  But at one point she told me we would be singing "Glory-land Way."  My eyes lit up, but she immediately said, "don't you dare."  I pretended to be hurt by this remark, as if I am going to be singing about collards when everyone else is singing about heaven.  Well yeah, a much younger and more immature Dalton just might have.

So all of you young writers, there you have it.  A substitute song-leader, a chance conversation, and collard greens.   I'm telling you, there is a blog in everything, all you have to do is look.

Thanks for reading, and be nice to each other.