I haven’t been there ( can you hear Jimmy Buffet just like I do- “well I’ve never been to spain, but I kinda like the music?) , but I am pretty sure I know what Heaven sounds like… I bet there is a great sound system and the melody playing in the background is just like home to me. All of my kin there, singing in harmony-

 “I wandered today, to my home in the mountains, where my youth’s early dawn was wild and free…”  And we are all there, and my mom is singing the high harmony, and my dad is expertly playing his guitar- and we are the Cheeney family players at a “family reunion, when we all meet up in Heaven, where we won’t be “rank strangers” to me. “

I may not have perfect faith in God, and I am by no means a perfect singer, but I have a perfect song in my heart, and the strings in me are tied to an old Gibson guitar, six strings, and flawless fingers play it best. I have felt the strings tug singing ‘Father and Son’, father and daughter style, or other songs that I dare anyone of you to sing with nary a tear in your eye… If there is a thing puzzling the picker, he will work it out in his way, with a well chosen song, no one will ever say he isn’t both clever and tactful.

Example: Stayed out one too many nights later than a nice girl would, and when he got a quiet moment, guitar in hand he played “ She’s out at the bar every evening, face powdered, her lips painted red, her beauty has faded too early, brought on by the fast life she’s led.”  Oh trust me, he is subtle but the message was heard loud and clear, with a knowing smile he sings on.

Dating the wrong guy? You might hear him play, “Mary took to running with a travelin’ man, left her mama cryin’ with her head in her hand, such a sad case… so broken hearted.”

Break something expensive? “ I got money, marbles and chalk, sweetheart, and still some would say I am poor, cause my money won’t spend, my chalk it won’t write, and marble wont roll anymore.”  And then there are the sweet songs he plays just for himself, the ones he plays because you beg. The ones he’ll play because I know all the words and don’t need him to lead me into them. And the ones strike a chord somewhere inside of him , they’re all good, just like him.

Come Sunday morning a spark will catch, you will see. And hopefully we will have our new flawless five fingered picker in the family!

I am so excited to share this with a certain young woman, and hopefully the traditions I have cherished my whole life will continue, “On earth as it is in Heaven”