An Empty Box Car

Today, I'm missing my Papa something fierce....its been nearly five years and it hasn't gotten any easier. All the flooding in Nashville and surrounding areas just makes my heart bleed out for all those people and the city I so intimately equate with Papa. I remember watching the Grand Ole Opry on Saturday nights with him, and baseball...I remember sitting with him during the Columbine tragedy and 9/11 too.... I remember going 16 years, good years, without ever eating a store bought tomato and learning you can just "cut around" the bad parts--boy we can learn a lot from that! I remember so many things he taught me, and the kind of love he shared and it makes missing him a little more meaningful...everything I needed from him, he gave me in his life. Love of country, respect, baseball, an ability to talk with strangers and a love, love, love for knowledge and conversation. Seeing Nashville in its present condition just makes me miss him because I know he would want to help, and I want to help because it would make me feel closer to him. There are so many questions left unanswered, things I never knew I wanted to know....I wish I could have more stories...I wish I could learn more about him being a "hobo" and hitch-hiking his way from Tennessee to California and back...or burying money if coffee cans...peeing off a skyscraper....throwing an alarm clock down an elevator shaft....I just miss him.

When I get where I'm going
on the far side of the sky.
The first thing that I'm gonna do
Is spread my wings and fly.

I'm gonna land beside a lion,
and run my fingers through his mane.
Or I might find out what it's like
To ride a drop of rain

Yeah when I get where I'm going,
there'll be only happy tears.
I will shed the sins and struggles,
I have carried all these years.
And I'll leave my heart wide open,
I will love and have no fear.
Yeah when I get where I'm going,
Don't cry for me down here.

I'm gonna walk with my grandaddy,
and he'll match me step for step,
and I'll tell him how I missed him,
every minute since he left.
Then I'll hug his neck.


So much pain and so much darkness,
in this world we stumble through.
All these questions, I can't answer,
so much work to do.

But when I get where I'm going,
and I see my Maker's face.
I'll stand forever in the light,
of His amazing grace.
Yeah when I get where I'm going,
there'll be only happy tears.
I will love and have no fear.
When I get where I'm going.
Yeah when I get where I'm going.