1 year ago: In 1992 I was a Marine stationed on Okinawa, Japan for 12 months at my first duty station. My roomy, Mathew was a white kid from Fremont, Ohio and I was a black kid from Bronx, NY (by way of Trinidad). He would play country music and watch NASCAR every chance he got. I was going crazy. Garth Brooks was his favorite. Then he started listening to Reggae and R&B (just a little). My son was born while I was overseas, Mathew is the one who told me I had a boy because my leg was broken and I couldn't get to the Duty phone on the 4th deck (floor) of our barracks. Mathew was also at my side during the funeral service for my son 29 years later. Music.
2 years ago I'm 62. I've always HEARD of John Prine, but never listened to any of his stuff. Last week of March, 2020, as I walked to my truck to go to work, a mangy looking cat dropped out from the fenderwell of it and met me, obviously blind, obviously hungry. I got him some food, and a dish of water, and went to work. On the way to work, I turned on Sirius radio and "Hello in there" came on. I really enjoyed it, and did some phone flipping at work to find the video, and then this song. When I got home that night, that cat was waiting on me. I fed him again, gave him fresh water and a cardboard box and an old jacket to curl up on. Next morning, he was back up in my wheelwell when I came out to go to work.
Long story short, Sebastian now has his own apartment at the back of the garage and while not totally blind, has some trouble seeing after being beat up so bad in the woods, his eyes taking the worst of it. His shot records and doctors records are longer than mine, and he loves about anyone that'll show him the least bit of affection, which is everybody that meets him!
John Prine died about a week after Sebastian and I met, and I've kicked myself for not getting acquainted with him music earlier in my life, but then, the impact it's had on me lately surely makes up for it. He's missed HERE, for sure, but for that mangy cat and me? Hello in there, indeed!
