Just Strummin' Along...or Not

So I’ll confess it: I always wanted to be a singer/songwriter.

I can just see it – sitting there on the street corner with a scuffed up love worn guitar across my jean clad knees while I strum and sing lyrics that I scribbled in pencil. I sometimes wonder if real singer/songwriters have this same dream in their head. I think not. They probably see what they do as normal as they way I see going to work 8:30-5:00 every day and making it in the daily grind; as novel as making my morning cups of coffee.

I always loved the idea of making a living off of writing poems and making them into songs to share with the world… or at least my little corner of the world. But then again, this is just not my calling. Or so it seems at the moment.  The fact that I couldn’t play the guitar to save my life is one obstacle in my path. And then there’s my poem writing….esh…no songs coming from that region!

Yes, I’m one of THEM.

I really do love how shocked some people are when they find out that I was homeschooled. The popular stereotypes for my ‘type’ are so prevalent among ‘normal school’ kids/adults that I sometimes think that a book should be written for them to peel back the curtains and see what we really are like.

Although, on the other side: many of our stereotypes are pretty accurate. Like social skills for example. We really don’t have any. Since we’re locked up in our room with a thousand thick text books to make us into geniuses there really isn’t time for being out and making friends.

Haha, not really. But honestly, one day I will write that book. The one that dispels all of the rumors that go around about us poor unsocial homeschoolers. And I won’t even have to leave my room!

Au Pairing…um…no. Not now. Not ever.

A good friend of mine just got the marvelous job offer of au pairing over in Europe for the next few months to a year. The lucky girl wrote to me about all the details which sounded so exciting and wonderful coming from her. She ended her message saying that I should honestly look into au pairing and that it would be a wonderful opportunity to travel over to Ireland perhaps and make money at the same time.

She meant well, but what she didn’t know is that I honestly could not au pair. Well, I mean, I could , but I won’t.

I babysat consistently from the time I was 11 to age 18. And I have all the horror stories that come with watching of children for seven years to make a buck: Getting locked in a room with a three year old and a baby for hours. The dog attacking me. Blowing up the popcorn. The cat that screamed like a human child and had the tendency to get stuck on high ledges. The kid that spilled blue milk on the suede lazyboy. The child that threatened to tell her mother on me for punishing her and her little sister.

Yeah, I’ve seen it all. And I’m just a bit convinced that seeing the same in a foreign country would not rid me of my lack of enthusiasm for watching strangers’ children.  But don’t get me wrong – I don’t see all children as little monsters. I just think that I am not the best person in the world to put in charge…something WILL go wrong.

Just thought I’d share:

I recently discovered that the beautiful song “How He Loves” done by the David Crowder Band was not in fact written by David Crowder (what can I say? I’m always assuming that the guy singin’ was the guy writin’!). But that song was in fact written by the talented Southerner John Mark McMillan after the sudden death of a good friend.

As I said above: I always wanted to be a singer-songwriter. But even though I will never be one, the singer-songwriter genre is a bit of a favorite for me. After I found this guy I bought his latest CD “The Medicine” and have been playing it ever since. I never really share music that I love here (well, besides the few songs below) but this guy is wicked talented and you can listen to his songs again and again. 

And now I leave you on this chilly fall night that is really only made for cozying up with a cup of coffee and a good book~

~Aithne Someris~