NEWSLETTERS

July '03 GoatNotes

"And crowned thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea." -- Katherine Lee Bates,1893
 
How about them Spurs? Yowza! Fireworks! Zap! Zing! My heart has gone a-rocketing! I find them to be a very inspirational team. We're built to be strong, sturdy, and yes, independent, but it's always amazing to me what can be accomplished when everyone's working together as a unit towards a common goal. As I downed the last of my chips with a glass of vino and hollered at the television in my NBA championship whoop, I thought about the fact that I no longer take pride in being independent. By that, I don't mean I'm not proud to get to do what I do the way I do it; I mean I'm proud I get to do what I do the way I do it, and I'm happy to have people around me helping me out every step of the way, so that all of our victories (and yes, even defeats) become shared experiences.

Coming from the type of family I did, independence was demanded. As I grew older though, that same independence often turned to stubbornness, and there I'd be, off by myself like an island and constantly swallowed by the sea. How I've changed from those days when I'd say, "No thanks, I've got the strength of ten women!" whenever someone would offer me a hand. My motto used to be that I could do anything and everything on my own. In the back of my head, thoughts were always buzzin' round, saying things like, "Don't put someone out," or, "They're too busy," or (my favorite), "Don't owe anyone ... anything." Fortunately, a few years ago, I got a wake-up call. Perhaps it was during the pre-computer era of running my business. Back then, I consistently pulled all-nighters in a bleary eyed stupor to get work done. I recall fumbling through my oh-so-hard-to-read, unalphabatized rolodex for suitable business addresses to slap on packages containing my first CD, "Two Dollar Shoes," so I could promote its release. A few days later, many of those packages came back because I had forgotten to add the darn zip codes. And that wasn't the worst of it. Back in those days, I used to go postal (literally) with each monthly mailing to my fan base. Not "needing" help, I once did a monstrous schedule mailing on my own. I stuck those labels on there, paid for postage, and sent out all those cards. Having put closure on my task, I waltzed out of the post office a satisfied woman. A few weeks later, cards with faulty addresses (yes, I remembered their zip code ... they just didn't remember to give me their forwarding address) were finding their way back to my post office box. To my dismay, I noticed the back of my cards were blank! Homer Simpson moment number 1003! I forgot to put my schedule on those cards!

Oh, there were musical incidents as well -- most of which I have caught on tape. I won't get too technical on y'all, but let's just say what a difference tuning and tempo makes to a song when you're playing solo compared to playing with others. During my first several months of working with other players, I'd just skip to the solo or the bridge whenever I pleased, thus causing fireworks (and not just during the Fourth of July) among my band members. In time, I learned (with the help of cheat notes taped to my guitar) how to keep my tunes in a format we could all improvise on but still be able to land together where we were supposed to. Someone somewhere along the line told me there's even a fancy word for this: "arrangement."

These days, I try to follow the rules of "arrangement" in my day-to-day life, too. And yes, I use cheat notes -- only these are pasted to the inside of my forehead. They read things like, "To have a friend, you must first be a friend," and "To be a part of a team, you must first belong to a team." Today, I have help with my business and my music. I'm still independent, but I've learned to rely on my team. It's a constant give and take, and now that I think about it, I can honestly say that I still do have the strength of ten women (Lloyd counts twice), all of whom are as dependent on me as I am on them to get through days that are as rocky politically and economically as a rafting trip down the Guadalupe River in New Braunfels, Texas. Of course mistakes still happen, but now they can be shared ... along with all the victories.

This Fourth of July, as bottle rockets shoot across the sky, burgers sizzle on the grill and toes dangle in the lake, I'll be performing at a festival. While I'm tuning up, I'll be grateful that I get to work for myself and experience the joy of working with others, and I'll be keeping folks who have family members stationed in Iraq and other parts of the world in my prayers. You know, when Charlotte Bronte said, "I'm a universal patriot, if you could understand me rightly; my country is the world," I can't help but hope she was talking about just how small this world has become and how we all depend on one another -- individually, as a team, and as a "country" -- to make it continue to turn.

Happy 4th and Happy Trails,
Terri Hendrix
(C)(P) THM Music July 2003

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