Friday, October 09, 2009
Tickets On Sale 10.10@10!
Tickets for The Danny Donuts Holidaze TrolleyDaze Lights Tour on 12/12 go on sale Saturday Morning October 10 at 10am. Only 30 tickets will be sold and tickets will only be sold online. The online box office has been moved to DonutsnJoe.com
Sorry for the inconvenience, but we can serve you better at DonutsnJoe.com
Use your credit card or PayPal Account to purchase tickets.
Good Luck and I hope to see you on the Jolly Trolley!
Thanx,
Danny
Sorry for the inconvenience, but we can serve you better at DonutsnJoe.com
Use your credit card or PayPal Account to purchase tickets.
Good Luck and I hope to see you on the Jolly Trolley!
Thanx,
Danny
Saturday, October 03, 2009
10-10 at 10 Buy Tickets Here
This is the place to buy Tickets for the 2009 Danny Donuts Holidaze TrolleyDaze Lights Tour!
Stop back on October 10th at 10am (10/10 at 10:00am)
Stop back on October 10th at 10am (10/10 at 10:00am)
The Holidays Lights Tour throughout downtown Chicago will take place Saturday December 12 from 7pm to 9pm (12/12). The 30 lucky ticket holders will be treated to a holiday party like no other… wacky songs and Christmas comedy by your host, Danny Donuts, the Jolly Trolley Trivia Game Show with your chance to win cool stuff, all the bright lights and Christmas cheer you can handle, and complimentary Christmas cookies, hot cider and hot chocolate will all be served on board. It’s open to all-ages and tickets are $15 per person. Some internet rumors have been circulating that a second tour might be added if the first one sells out. That alleged tour would be from 9 to 11pm but we have been unable to get confirmation on these rumors.
Friday, July 17, 2009
Danny Donuts In: The Case of The Stolen Donutmobile
It was a sunny morning in the city of Chicago. It’s not often a private eye like me sees the morning sun, but today was different. I was working on my new van. It wasn’t much of a looker, but I got a good deal on it… $450. Purchased it from a shady character in a shady part of town… 130th and Torrence. The guy had me meet him in the parking lot of a closed-up greasy spoon. He claims he didn’t know much about it… the van, not the diner. Fellow owed him some money so he gave him the van. I didn’t care. He had the title and everything looked legit. And besides, some guy is driving around town in the van that was stolen from me and he doesn’t have a title or keys. Come to think of it, he doesn’t have brakes either. I needed to get something and I needed something fast.
When my stolen property is recovered, I’ll be glad of my recent acquisition… seeing as though I bought a duplicate make, model and year. Yep, another 1993 Plymouth Grand Voyager. I could use some parts and my old van definitely had parts. My cell phone rang. It was Dave. He got some mail over at the old place and it looked official. Holding it up to the light he could see it was a Notice of Violation from the guys down at City Hall. I gave him permission to open it, even though I knew he already did that. A photo of my last van. Parked on some street neither Dave or I had ever heard of. You know the street is obscure when Dave the Limo Guy has never heard of it. They nailed me for $50 for a missing front license plate. It had the plate before it was stolen. This was the clue I was waiting for.
I rounded up some accomplices and went to steal it back. Hoped no one would be sleeping in it when we found it. We found Fuller Street, a sad little angled street only 3 blocks long, bordered by Archer, the river and the old quarry and underneath the tracks and the Stevenson. We came up empty. The picture was taken two weeks ago. Who knows where it is now. Just like a plumber has leaky pipes and a builder lives in an unfinished house, I can crack any case in this town except my own.
My new van ain’t so bad. I’m kind of getting attached to it. She’s got 170,000 miles on her, but she wears ‘em well. I put a couple of ironing boards on the roof rack so the hoodlums will think twice about stealing this one. You just don’t steal a van from a guy who puts ironing boards up on the roof. You don’t know what kinda nut you’re dealing with… and what he’s capable of doing if he catches ya. Here’s a picture of the new ride.
As far as Donutmobiles go, this is like the Super hero of Donutmobiles, so I’m calling this one The Super Donutmobile. They can’t keep me down. This time they got away, but it’s only a matter of time before the next ticket comes in the mail. I’ll keep ya posted on any new developments.
When my stolen property is recovered, I’ll be glad of my recent acquisition… seeing as though I bought a duplicate make, model and year. Yep, another 1993 Plymouth Grand Voyager. I could use some parts and my old van definitely had parts. My cell phone rang. It was Dave. He got some mail over at the old place and it looked official. Holding it up to the light he could see it was a Notice of Violation from the guys down at City Hall. I gave him permission to open it, even though I knew he already did that. A photo of my last van. Parked on some street neither Dave or I had ever heard of. You know the street is obscure when Dave the Limo Guy has never heard of it. They nailed me for $50 for a missing front license plate. It had the plate before it was stolen. This was the clue I was waiting for.
I rounded up some accomplices and went to steal it back. Hoped no one would be sleeping in it when we found it. We found Fuller Street, a sad little angled street only 3 blocks long, bordered by Archer, the river and the old quarry and underneath the tracks and the Stevenson. We came up empty. The picture was taken two weeks ago. Who knows where it is now. Just like a plumber has leaky pipes and a builder lives in an unfinished house, I can crack any case in this town except my own.
My new van ain’t so bad. I’m kind of getting attached to it. She’s got 170,000 miles on her, but she wears ‘em well. I put a couple of ironing boards on the roof rack so the hoodlums will think twice about stealing this one. You just don’t steal a van from a guy who puts ironing boards up on the roof. You don’t know what kinda nut you’re dealing with… and what he’s capable of doing if he catches ya. Here’s a picture of the new ride.
As far as Donutmobiles go, this is like the Super hero of Donutmobiles, so I’m calling this one The Super Donutmobile. They can’t keep me down. This time they got away, but it’s only a matter of time before the next ticket comes in the mail. I’ll keep ya posted on any new developments.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Viva Las Beatles!
Each year there are two weekends that I partake in that recharge my batteries, remind me who I really am and light me up like The Las Vegas Strip. Every August since 1997 I’ve attended Chicago’s Beatlefest (now known as the Fest for Beatles Fans). I haven’t missed one yet and I’ve performed on the big stage each year. And since 1999, I’ve gone to at least one therapeutic humor conference each year, although I missed out on the laughs last year. The therapeutic humor conferences have always been in February, March or April so the early spring laughter has been able to sustain me into the late summer music fest.
What would happen if I somehow combined these experiences? Although the New York/New Jersey Metro Fest for Beatles Fans happens in March and there is a Fest in Las Vegas in July, I made my first trip to Las Vegas this past April Fools Day and my weekend was filled with both Therapeutic Humor and the Beatles! I was invited to take part in the annual Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor (AATH) Conference as both the MC for our Friday night member showcase and as a co-leader for Saturday afternoon’s therapeutic clown field trip to an assisted living center. AATH gave us Saturday night off to go play in Vegas and I learned a long time ago to never go home the day the conference ends, so we had Sunday night open as well.
I’ve wanted to see LOVE, the Beatles’ Cirque du Soleil show since it opened in 2006. All of my Beatles’ pals loved it and I knew I would too, but could I get tickets? Could I afford to go? I looked into several options for discounted tickets and it came down to the stressful “let’s see if we can get half-priced tickets at the day of show discount booth.” All the usual worrisome thoughts filled my head… “What if they’re sold out? What if only the most expensive seats were discounted? What if I come all the way out to Vegas and I don’t get to see LOVE?” While I attended the morning keynote presentations at the conference, Barb went out to score the tickets. She has an amazing talent at producing the proverbial golden ticket at times like this, so I knew I was in good hands, but just how it would unfold remained a mystery. The Tahiti Village time-share condo sales team was out in full force and they had the cheapest tickets if we would sit through two hours of their repulsive sales pitch, but then Barb found a decent deal and bought tickets for the Sunday night early show. We were going to see LOVE!
I forgot about the Beatles-themed Revolution Night Club in the Mirage until we got there. I remember hearing that people weren’t too impressed with the club and I’d agree with them but I took some cool pictures of the Beatles Song Title Double Wall. A metal wall with Beatles song titles cut out of the metal reveals a hot pink wall with all the other song titles written in various styles, sizes and fonts. Very cool.
I’m not going to review LOVE. All I can say is, if you haven’t seen it, go see it. It’s a sensory overload experience that can give you a psychedelic trip without partaking in mind-altering substances. It was real interesting for me to watch the dynamics in the lobby before and after the show. While people are waiting in line for their $11 glasses of wine and $6 buckets of popcorn, they are listening to these great Beatles songs being played on the speakers, but few people react. I’m all jazzed up from the humor conference and I’m finding it odd that everyone in the lobby is all caught up in the “we’re on our best behavior because we’re going out to the theatre this evening” mentality. This is the perfect opportunity for a big Beatles sing-along, but for the most part we stand in single file lines like zombies. After the show is a different energy. People have allowed themselves to turn off their minds, relax and float downstream. Older ladies who might have been the cool moms in 1964 are now twisting and singing along. Smiles, wide eyes and loud voices fill the same lobby 90-minutes after it was inhabited by zombies. What if we lived our lives like that… ready to party at every opportunity instead of waiting for permission or appropriate times before we let loose?
The humor conference took place at the Riviera but we stayed down the street at the Sahara. Our local guide, Bob Brye, once upon a time from Ludington, Michigan told us they have better rooms and better deals. Two of the nights we stayed for $32! On our first trip up to the room I noticed the Beatles pictures and found out we were staying in the same tower the Beatles stayed in almost 45 years ago on the night of their one and only performance in Las Vegas.
Well, I had to go on the pilgrimage to see their room and documented it with these photos.
As a performer, there’s something about being able to say, “I played Vegas.” Of course when you get out there the game seems to be “whoever has the biggest advertising budget wins!” And not all venues are created equal. They say the LOVE Theater in the Mirage cost over $100 million to build… and then there’s the stage in the Sahara casino where a band called
Sixties Mania played for 4 hours each night, 5 nights a week. They pretty much supplied background music for the gamblers in the casino, although they had some tables and chairs and a small dance floor in front of their very simple stage. They always had people in the seats and a few would even venture out onto the dance floor. For some, this was their wedding reception. The bride had a T-shirt with “BRIDE” written on it and wore a white skirt. The groom had a tuxedo T-shirt. We were pretty exhausted from laughing all day, but we couldn’t go up to the room without sitting down to listen to a song or two each night. No, we didn’t hear them do any Beatles songs, but I noticed the bass player played left-handed. And then I noticed he had a Hofner bass sitting on stage behind him. But then the strangest thing was when he had on his glasses, he looked and acted exactly like John Lennon, more so than most of the Beatles’ look-alike bands I’ve seen. He is a big Beatles’ fan and hails from Australia, where the Sixties Mania band originated… “Imagine all the Aussies… Living life with sheep… yoo-hoo…”
With all of the Beatles parodies I’ve done at the Fest for Beatles Fans, maybe the icing on the cake would be performing a Beatles parody in Vegas. As the MC for the AATH Friday night member showcase, I had that opportunity, but chose to open the show with an Elvis parody instead. You can watch my “Viva Las Vegas” parody slide show presentation below. My version is called “Laughing in Vegas”… which is how I spent my Las Vegas vacation.
What would happen if I somehow combined these experiences? Although the New York/New Jersey Metro Fest for Beatles Fans happens in March and there is a Fest in Las Vegas in July, I made my first trip to Las Vegas this past April Fools Day and my weekend was filled with both Therapeutic Humor and the Beatles! I was invited to take part in the annual Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor (AATH) Conference as both the MC for our Friday night member showcase and as a co-leader for Saturday afternoon’s therapeutic clown field trip to an assisted living center. AATH gave us Saturday night off to go play in Vegas and I learned a long time ago to never go home the day the conference ends, so we had Sunday night open as well.
I’ve wanted to see LOVE, the Beatles’ Cirque du Soleil show since it opened in 2006. All of my Beatles’ pals loved it and I knew I would too, but could I get tickets? Could I afford to go? I looked into several options for discounted tickets and it came down to the stressful “let’s see if we can get half-priced tickets at the day of show discount booth.” All the usual worrisome thoughts filled my head… “What if they’re sold out? What if only the most expensive seats were discounted? What if I come all the way out to Vegas and I don’t get to see LOVE?” While I attended the morning keynote presentations at the conference, Barb went out to score the tickets. She has an amazing talent at producing the proverbial golden ticket at times like this, so I knew I was in good hands, but just how it would unfold remained a mystery. The Tahiti Village time-share condo sales team was out in full force and they had the cheapest tickets if we would sit through two hours of their repulsive sales pitch, but then Barb found a decent deal and bought tickets for the Sunday night early show. We were going to see LOVE!
I’m not going to review LOVE. All I can say is, if you haven’t seen it, go see it. It’s a sensory overload experience that can give you a psychedelic trip without partaking in mind-altering substances. It was real interesting for me to watch the dynamics in the lobby before and after the show. While people are waiting in line for their $11 glasses of wine and $6 buckets of popcorn, they are listening to these great Beatles songs being played on the speakers, but few people react. I’m all jazzed up from the humor conference and I’m finding it odd that everyone in the lobby is all caught up in the “we’re on our best behavior because we’re going out to the theatre this evening” mentality. This is the perfect opportunity for a big Beatles sing-along, but for the most part we stand in single file lines like zombies. After the show is a different energy. People have allowed themselves to turn off their minds, relax and float downstream. Older ladies who might have been the cool moms in 1964 are now twisting and singing along. Smiles, wide eyes and loud voices fill the same lobby 90-minutes after it was inhabited by zombies. What if we lived our lives like that… ready to party at every opportunity instead of waiting for permission or appropriate times before we let loose?The humor conference took place at the Riviera but we stayed down the street at the Sahara. Our local guide, Bob Brye, once upon a time from Ludington, Michigan told us they have better rooms and better deals. Two of the nights we stayed for $32! On our first trip up to the room I noticed the Beatles pictures and found out we were staying in the same tower the Beatles stayed in almost 45 years ago on the night of their one and only performance in Las Vegas.
Well, I had to go on the pilgrimage to see their room and documented it with these photos.
As a performer, there’s something about being able to say, “I played Vegas.” Of course when you get out there the game seems to be “whoever has the biggest advertising budget wins!” And not all venues are created equal. They say the LOVE Theater in the Mirage cost over $100 million to build… and then there’s the stage in the Sahara casino where a band called
Sixties Mania played for 4 hours each night, 5 nights a week. They pretty much supplied background music for the gamblers in the casino, although they had some tables and chairs and a small dance floor in front of their very simple stage. They always had people in the seats and a few would even venture out onto the dance floor. For some, this was their wedding reception. The bride had a T-shirt with “BRIDE” written on it and wore a white skirt. The groom had a tuxedo T-shirt. We were pretty exhausted from laughing all day, but we couldn’t go up to the room without sitting down to listen to a song or two each night. No, we didn’t hear them do any Beatles songs, but I noticed the bass player played left-handed. And then I noticed he had a Hofner bass sitting on stage behind him. But then the strangest thing was when he had on his glasses, he looked and acted exactly like John Lennon, more so than most of the Beatles’ look-alike bands I’ve seen. He is a big Beatles’ fan and hails from Australia, where the Sixties Mania band originated… “Imagine all the Aussies… Living life with sheep… yoo-hoo…”
With all of the Beatles parodies I’ve done at the Fest for Beatles Fans, maybe the icing on the cake would be performing a Beatles parody in Vegas. As the MC for the AATH Friday night member showcase, I had that opportunity, but chose to open the show with an Elvis parody instead. You can watch my “Viva Las Vegas” parody slide show presentation below. My version is called “Laughing in Vegas”… which is how I spent my Las Vegas vacation.
Friday, January 02, 2009
Blossom Tribute
In Loving Memory of Blossom the Wonderdog
April 17, 1997- December 30, 2008
Here is my slide show tribute.
Speakers On, Kleenex Handy, Roll the Film...
April 17, 1997- December 30, 2008
Here is my slide show tribute.
Speakers On, Kleenex Handy, Roll the Film...
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
More Hearse Pictures
I'm selling my hearse. Read the entry below this one for more details and more pictures
Hearse For Sale
I'm selling my Hearse. This was the Danny Donuts Tour Bus that I traveled cross-country in back in 1999! I have a 1-man show about that experience.
1989 Buick LeSabre Hearse $1500 or will trade for a London Taxi
142,000 miles
307 V-8 engine
Trailer Hitch (because you CAN take it all with you!)
Rear Air Shocks (for that extra load or a cool lift)
Rear inside door handle (I used the hearse as my camper and see, hearses don't come with inside door handles. Ya know not too many people get the opportunity to crawl out of the back of a hearse and start a brand new day!)
I have the creepy curtains and a homemade set of fun-print curtains
New exhaust and catalytic converter
New brakes and brake lines
Pictures are from last year. The pink letters and purple paint is almost all gone and it's back to the original black vinyl top. Runs great! Super smooth ride. e-mail: dannydonuts@hotmail.com
1989 Buick LeSabre Hearse $1500 or will trade for a London Taxi
142,000 miles
307 V-8 engine
Trailer Hitch (because you CAN take it all with you!)
Rear Air Shocks (for that extra load or a cool lift)
Rear inside door handle (I used the hearse as my camper and see, hearses don't come with inside door handles. Ya know not too many people get the opportunity to crawl out of the back of a hearse and start a brand new day!)
I have the creepy curtains and a homemade set of fun-print curtains
New exhaust and catalytic converter
New brakes and brake lines
Pictures are from last year. The pink letters and purple paint is almost all gone and it's back to the original black vinyl top. Runs great! Super smooth ride. e-mail: dannydonuts@hotmail.com
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Miracle's Second Chance
On September 18, 2006 I had the honor of looking into the eyes of a white buffalo calf named Miracle's Second Chance. Because it’s 2006, I’ll now refer to this sacred creature as M2C.
The news of the birth of M2C came to me via a news story and photo on the internet a few days before I was to make the trek to Spooner, Wisconsin to see my parents. Back in 1994 when I was living in Minneapolis, a white buffalo named Miracle was born on this same farm in Janesville, Wisconsin. I remember hearing how sacred this was to Native American tribes throughout the country. This same article mentioned that Miracle died in 2004.(My visit came a day before Miracle’s 2nd anniversary) A Native American elder was quoted in the article saying Miracle’s task wasn’t quite done yet. A prophesy states that the white buffalo will reunite all the races of man and restore balance to the world. Since I would be passing through Janesville, I thought I would stop by and check it out. Great photos, news, and stories can be found here M2C's Website
Not knowing what to expect, I was quite surprised to find the birthplace was a small 45-acre farm nestled between neighboring houses, a highway and a river. I pulled up the gravel driveway and parked. The scene was one you might expect on a small family farm. Ducks, geese chickens and peacocks wandered about. Horses and other farm animals went about their business. The gravel path extended beyond the buildings and led to the fenced areas where the buffalo roam. There was a modest building where one can buy buffalo meat and buffalo souvenirs and view gifts given to Miracle and the Heider’s, including a cloth from the Dali Lama.
There were a couple of guys with cameras chatting and standing by the fence, waiting to get a good shot of M2C. There were about 10 buffalo of all sizes standing around. Baby buffalo nursed and played. Adults stood proud and kept the little ones in line. In the back corner of the paddock a small white buffalo calf, 24 days old nursed from his mother. After a while M2C turned and looked at us. His black nose and deep dark eyes stood out from his fluffy white coat. There was something special about this moment. I felt fortunate and honored to have this opportunity to look into the eyes of this animal which Native Americans revere as sacred. I was born into the Catholic religion and people of that faith have similar experiences. A woman gets on the front page of the newspaper for discovering a big glob of chocolate that resembles the Virgin Mary. Traffic jams result from the congestion under a bridge where people flocked to look at a water stain in Mary’s likeness. I do not wish to discount the spirituality in any of this, but for me I found connection looking into the eyes of this living, breathing animal. Miracle, M2C and Jesus do have a lot in common. They were all born amongst farm animals, people came from all over with gifts and people looked at them with a greater connection to their higher power.
I drove away from Janesville in silence with my thoughts. I decided to let Miracle’s Second Chance be the theme of my week-long getaway. I also had a second chance. This would be my second visit to see my parents this summer. The first time was busy and chaotic with our immediate family reunion. Seven of us (8 counting Blossom) all crammed into a standard-sized house trailer forced us to be creative with our sleeping arrangements. For the second straight year I slept on a cot mattress under the kitchen table. My nephew slept in a chaise lounge lawn chair in the living room. The important thing was that we were all together. I have happy memories from that experience. But this would be different. It would just be the three of us (4 with Blossom) and there was work to be done. The biggest job was patching holes in the basement ceiling. (Yes, my parents live in a trailer with a basement- they’re very wealthy, you know!)
Working with or for my dad has been an interesting journey. Growing up in the country there was always work to be done. I wanted to spend my summer vacation watching “Family Feud” and “The Love Boat” reruns. Dad had this idea of instilling a good work ethic in his children and made us work in his half-acre garden for a whole hour every day. I was sure he was breaking child-labor laws and I resisted the whole way. I boycotted eating strawberries because I hated picking them. Jaime and I would be embarrassed to have friends over because Dad would have all of us picking beans or peas. It really sucked when our friends thought it was fun. “THIS ISN’T FUN!” We weeded the garden, stacked firewood, and dug our way through 10-ft high snow drifts to get to the garage. And then there was the annual putting up the snow fence family event. What? Didn’t your family put up 300’ of snow fence in your front yard every November?
I’m happy to say I transformed my attitude about working with my parents. Actually, I wouldn’t mind having them for bosses. We all slept in. I started each day taking time to write before having a nice big breakfast. We went to the basement and started to work but before I knew it, they were already talking about lunch. We ate a huge lunch and it was ok that I worked on some of my own things before going back to work. We worked a little more then it was time for supper. We ate a lot and worked a little. We stayed up late playing games and watching videos. We got the work done. We relaxed. We visited. We even went on the boat. We all had a great time. I was present to the love and the fun and the opportunity that it was. I give thanks to that little white buffalo for it was that experience of seeing Miracle’s Second Chance that had me stay present and live in the moment. Perhaps that’s the miracle. The world looks a whole lot different to me when I’m living in the present. A line from one of my Christmas parodies, “Harmony (That’s What I Want)” is “you say that you want to have peace worldwide, well the first thing you do, you got to look inside…” Perhaps M2C will fulfill the Native American prophesy and reunite all the races of man and restore balance to the world. Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.
Peace, Love and Donuts,
Danny
The news of the birth of M2C came to me via a news story and photo on the internet a few days before I was to make the trek to Spooner, Wisconsin to see my parents. Back in 1994 when I was living in Minneapolis, a white buffalo named Miracle was born on this same farm in Janesville, Wisconsin. I remember hearing how sacred this was to Native American tribes throughout the country. This same article mentioned that Miracle died in 2004.(My visit came a day before Miracle’s 2nd anniversary) A Native American elder was quoted in the article saying Miracle’s task wasn’t quite done yet. A prophesy states that the white buffalo will reunite all the races of man and restore balance to the world. Since I would be passing through Janesville, I thought I would stop by and check it out. Great photos, news, and stories can be found here M2C's Website
Not knowing what to expect, I was quite surprised to find the birthplace was a small 45-acre farm nestled between neighboring houses, a highway and a river. I pulled up the gravel driveway and parked. The scene was one you might expect on a small family farm. Ducks, geese chickens and peacocks wandered about. Horses and other farm animals went about their business. The gravel path extended beyond the buildings and led to the fenced areas where the buffalo roam. There was a modest building where one can buy buffalo meat and buffalo souvenirs and view gifts given to Miracle and the Heider’s, including a cloth from the Dali Lama.
There were a couple of guys with cameras chatting and standing by the fence, waiting to get a good shot of M2C. There were about 10 buffalo of all sizes standing around. Baby buffalo nursed and played. Adults stood proud and kept the little ones in line. In the back corner of the paddock a small white buffalo calf, 24 days old nursed from his mother. After a while M2C turned and looked at us. His black nose and deep dark eyes stood out from his fluffy white coat. There was something special about this moment. I felt fortunate and honored to have this opportunity to look into the eyes of this animal which Native Americans revere as sacred. I was born into the Catholic religion and people of that faith have similar experiences. A woman gets on the front page of the newspaper for discovering a big glob of chocolate that resembles the Virgin Mary. Traffic jams result from the congestion under a bridge where people flocked to look at a water stain in Mary’s likeness. I do not wish to discount the spirituality in any of this, but for me I found connection looking into the eyes of this living, breathing animal. Miracle, M2C and Jesus do have a lot in common. They were all born amongst farm animals, people came from all over with gifts and people looked at them with a greater connection to their higher power.
I drove away from Janesville in silence with my thoughts. I decided to let Miracle’s Second Chance be the theme of my week-long getaway. I also had a second chance. This would be my second visit to see my parents this summer. The first time was busy and chaotic with our immediate family reunion. Seven of us (8 counting Blossom) all crammed into a standard-sized house trailer forced us to be creative with our sleeping arrangements. For the second straight year I slept on a cot mattress under the kitchen table. My nephew slept in a chaise lounge lawn chair in the living room. The important thing was that we were all together. I have happy memories from that experience. But this would be different. It would just be the three of us (4 with Blossom) and there was work to be done. The biggest job was patching holes in the basement ceiling. (Yes, my parents live in a trailer with a basement- they’re very wealthy, you know!)
Working with or for my dad has been an interesting journey. Growing up in the country there was always work to be done. I wanted to spend my summer vacation watching “Family Feud” and “The Love Boat” reruns. Dad had this idea of instilling a good work ethic in his children and made us work in his half-acre garden for a whole hour every day. I was sure he was breaking child-labor laws and I resisted the whole way. I boycotted eating strawberries because I hated picking them. Jaime and I would be embarrassed to have friends over because Dad would have all of us picking beans or peas. It really sucked when our friends thought it was fun. “THIS ISN’T FUN!” We weeded the garden, stacked firewood, and dug our way through 10-ft high snow drifts to get to the garage. And then there was the annual putting up the snow fence family event. What? Didn’t your family put up 300’ of snow fence in your front yard every November?
I’m happy to say I transformed my attitude about working with my parents. Actually, I wouldn’t mind having them for bosses. We all slept in. I started each day taking time to write before having a nice big breakfast. We went to the basement and started to work but before I knew it, they were already talking about lunch. We ate a huge lunch and it was ok that I worked on some of my own things before going back to work. We worked a little more then it was time for supper. We ate a lot and worked a little. We stayed up late playing games and watching videos. We got the work done. We relaxed. We visited. We even went on the boat. We all had a great time. I was present to the love and the fun and the opportunity that it was. I give thanks to that little white buffalo for it was that experience of seeing Miracle’s Second Chance that had me stay present and live in the moment. Perhaps that’s the miracle. The world looks a whole lot different to me when I’m living in the present. A line from one of my Christmas parodies, “Harmony (That’s What I Want)” is “you say that you want to have peace worldwide, well the first thing you do, you got to look inside…” Perhaps M2C will fulfill the Native American prophesy and reunite all the races of man and restore balance to the world. Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.
Peace, Love and Donuts,
Danny
