Hot or not, it’s a good day

Published 12:34 am Wednesday, August 31, 2011

As I sat at my window this morning watching a shower of oak leaves, I thought, “Fall is teasing me with these cool, humidity-free mornings.” Listening to the rustle as a squirrel raced across the yard, I almost forgot that by mid afternoon the hum of my air conditioner would be the predominant sound.

It’s funny how I wish for the next season before the present one ends. This summer had me wishing for fall by mid-July. Hot weather is not my favorite weather and this year hot doesn’t begin to describe it. Tropical rain forest comes closer to how it felt at my house.

In the midst of my dreaming of cooler days and thinking about how much I want the heat to go, the words of a song came floating into my head. Not just the words, but also the whole experience of listening to the song.

It was something I played on an old record player handed down to me by my parents. The thing looked like a big brown suitcase with dials down one side. It had three speeds, 33, 45 and 78 rpm.

How I loved to spin old records when I was about 10-years-old. Of course, as soon as the teenage years arrived, I used the radio part of that suitcase-sized player a lot more, tuning it to the Big Bam or playing singles I heard on a top 40 countdown.

However, on this morning, the record I recalled was an old 78 made of some kind of wax, one from a collection my parents had in their younger days. I’d sit in my upstairs bedroom, often on summer days, and play records from that collection over and over.

A song on one of those records became a favorite of mine. I’m not sure of the singer, but it was possibly Peggy Lee since she wrote it in 1947 and that is most likely the right timeframe for the wax record I set spinning on that old player. Whoever it was, the voice was smooth as silk between the static scratching popping noises caused by little nicks in the record.

I listened so many times I knew the words and sang along matching my voice to the rise and fall of the singer‘s. This morning I found myself humming, hearing the lyrics in my head as I thought about how much I want cooler days.

As the words came back to me, I started singing softly, growing louder and smiling as I got a message from the music.

Yes, it’s a good day for singing a song,
and it’s a good day for moving along; 
Yes, it’s a good day, how could anything go wrong,
A good day from morning till night

Yes, it’s a good day for shining your shoes,
and it’s a good day for losing the blues;
Everything to gain and nothing to lose, 
`Cause it’s a good day from morning till night

I said to the Sun, “ Good morning sun
Rise and shine today”
You know you’ve gotta get going
If you’re gonna make a showin’
And you know you’ve got the right of way.

`Cause it’s a good day for paying your bills;
And it’s a good day for curing your ills,
So take a deep breath and throw away your pills;
`Cause it’s a good day from morning till night

All teasing aside, fall is coming and will be here in its appointed time. Until then, I am going to do my best to enjoy whatever weather blows in, because as long as I’m breathing, “It’s a good day from morning till night…