I spoke with my mother on the phone after school today. I normally try to do that every day. When I was driving 54 miles one way to Medora for a decade and a half it was easy to do. There was plenty of time to get caught up while I drove home.
The subject had to come up. In a few days I will turn 50. My mother says she can’t believe it. I tend to agree. My back argues with that, though. Just one of those things.
When I was born at the Bartholomew County Hospital in Columbus, Indiana on March 18th there was some concern. Something about my lungs not cooperating when I got here. Imagine that. All I can say is that I have made up for it. A day or two after I was born a six inch snow fell, according to reports. It was like the one we had last night. It was gone the next day.
Today a student at school, they caught wind of my birthday being on the way. The student told me fifty years is a long time. Gee thanks kid. But the student was right.
Honestly, I am proud to say I have made it this far. This is a crazy world we live in. I could sit and talk to you about folks I have lost over the years and what they meant to me and how their passing has affected me and we could be at it for a while.
Not far from where I type these words is a picture of me and Todd “Corner King” Lincoln, Sr on my wedding day. We are looking off in the distance in slightly different directions. I thought the photo was way too cool soon after we got the gagillion pictures developed that were taken by the great Bryan Moss. Talk about a nice wedding present. Thank you, Bryan.
There we are. Me and the Corner King. Standing beside North Road in front of Hancock Chapel Church where I was about to be married. That was February 10, 1996.
Todd was 30 in 1997. I was 29. We lost him on August 26th of that year. We had so much fun. The last time I talked to him I was using a telephone that hung on the wall and had a long chord on it. He died suddenly due to illness the next day. His last words to me were, “Later on, Brother!” Later on indeed.
I sit and wonder some times what things would be like between us now. I doubt it would be much different. He was a kind soul. As tall as he was, he was that gentle and caring for others. I think of him often. I write songs and sing them cos I had to after he died to help me make sense of things and stuff. I thank him and Carrie, she told me to find a guitar a month and a half after Todd died. That has translated into a gift I can give others and enjoy a great deal myself.
Next week I will be holding forth on music and songwriting with some junior English students and they will hear the song “Don’t Miss the Last Dance”. I wrote it for Corner King. He deserves to be part of the speaks. He was there. He still is.
Speaking the rights.
Danny Johnson