I've got a new favorite song ~

A definite highlight of this past year has been having my niece, Leandra, here with us for 10-ish months. So many laughs, kitchen experimentation, dance marathons in the living room, all-age slumber parties in the girls' room... We're so thankful that we've had this amazing time and the opportunity to so intimately be a part of each others' lives.

There have been a few surprises, however. Hopefully she (yeah, Andi) won't be upset that I'm talking about her on our blog... One of those surprises has been that she's got a friend... yeah, a guy friend... it is a Facebook official "relationship..." and his name is Joe. Their friendship has been a treat for our family. A definite second highlight of this year has been getting to know Joe as he's hangin out at our house. (We hope he's enjoyed hanging out with our family, too...  He does say he'd still come to visit even if Andi wasn't here and it was donut Saturday....)

Of course, Elsie Mae and Mary Michelle are convinced he's coming over to visit them. The Jon-man thinks it is so he can challenge Joe to soccer in our sandy front yard. My gang asks, "Can Uncle Joe come over?" even more than they ask if I'll take them to the pool - in this land of 120' heat and common power cuts, that very fact must give you some idea of what a favorite he is! Come to think of it, the kids may actually ask more frequently than Andi does... of course, she's outnumbered 8 to 1! He and Andi are two of my favoritest young people in the world today: they spent a couple of hours scrubbing underneath, behind and all over - cleaning my oven/stove. Now, the oven door offers a better reflection than just about any mirror in the house!

So... what does all this have to do with a new favorite song? I'm getting to that part... albeit slowly. Consider this "blog-post-African-style" - lots of beating around the bush before coming to the point.

I grew up in Oklahoma, and I detested country music. In my opinion, it was a very sad state of affairs that country outnumbered every other type of radio station AND both my swim coach and my gymnastics coach loved country music. Unless we were preparing floor routines for competition, the gymnastics gym always echoed Kenny Rogers, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Oak Ridge Boys... blech! More than once, I'd lift my head out of the water and those same painful notes would filter down to my hears... blech again! I heard a lot more country music than I ever wanted to hear.

Then, right after my high school graduation, my family moved to New England - just a short distance outside of Boston. No radio stations regularly played country music... and  crazy as it sounds, homesickness blossomed into a love affair with country music - I clearly identified that with "home." My previous antipathy quickly morphed to love.

This enjoyment of country western music has continued. You can move the girl out of the country, but guess you can't erase the country out of the girl. Those sappy ballads get me every time! Joe likes country music, too... he's converted Andi and all the kids (my husband, essentially a redneck, well, he was already a fan - especially if a song had to do with pick up trucks or hunting squirrels and deer). So, today, we were all working and cleaning here at the house, and Joe was sharing some of his collection with us.

I heard the following song... at first, I thought it was just another round of nostalgic sentimentality... boy was I wrong. This song may be old news for y'all - but this was the first time I'd every heard it.

Voilà! My new favorite!

Read the lyrics... then there is an amateur concert video below the words, if you are interested in hearing/seeing a partial performance by Josh Turner, as he sings "The Way He Was Raised."

Be sure to comment and let me know what you think!

THE WAY HE WAS RAISED

He always wore those worn out flip-flops

Spent hours in his Daddy's workshop

he loved being on the water

Fishing with His friends

He always listened to the old folks

When they'd tell stories and crack jokes

Didn't talk back to his Mama

When she got onto Him

Oh, that's just the way He was raised

Had to finish all His chores 'fore He could go outside and play

they always went to church that's were he learned how to pray

And that's just the way He was raised

He grew His hair out when He got older

Grew it clear down to His shoulders

Started hanging with the outcasts

When He went off to town

Some called Him a troublemaker

Even some said a lawbreaker

No matter how they talked about Him

He never put nobody down

'Cause that's just the way He was raised

When people start to gossip, He'd just walk away

He always loved his neighbor no matter what they'd say

Oh, that's just the way He was raised

On a cross, on a hill

That long haired boy was killed

All our sins washed away

When He walked out of that grave

Oh, that's just the way He was raised

there's no way we can measure

The sacrifice He made

He knew He had to die

For our debt to be paid

Oh, that's just the way He was raised

It took the hand of God to roll the stone away

And that's just the way He was raised

Yeah, that's just the way He was raised