Over the next hill and around the next corner

“How long til we get there, Dad?”

“Over the next hill and around the next corner.”

It was a game we played while traveling. We would ask the question. Dad would give the answer. Then we would top the next hill or round the next corner and we still had miles to go.

“I thought you said over the next hill!”

“I did, but this is THIS hill” (or that was THAT corner).

But there was one particular corner that we frequented on our travels that had nothing to do with the destination. It was about the corner—a curve in the road in the middle of nowhere in West Texas.

It didn’t matter what else we were doing on the trip, when we got to that curve in the road, we stopped doing everything else and started singing,

“Kiss an angel good morning and let her know you think about her when you’re gone. Kiss an angel good morning and love her like the devil when you get back home.”

I’m not sure how singing Charley Pride’s 1971 #1 hit song (click here to watch and listen) on that particular curve got started. Maybe it was playing on the radio the first time we did it.

I don’t remember.

But every time we reached that curve, we sang it.  Every time.

Even as an adult, when my travels on that particular road became much less frequent, I still sang it.  You should have seen the look Mrs. Sweetie gave me the first time I started belting it out when she was with me!

When I heard over the weekend that Charley Pride had passed away at age 86 from complications related to covid, that curve in the road was my first thought. I could envision Dad behind the wheel of his light green Mercury starting to sing, “Whenever I chance to meet an old friend on the street …”

I wanted to call Dad and tell him about Charley Pride’s passing, but of course I couldn’t because Dad passed in April of this year. So, I just texted my brother. He was having the same memories.

This Christmas will be the first time in my own kids’ lives that part of the Christmas holiday won’t be spent at Dad’s house. 

Traditions change. It’s part of life.

The journey continues.

We’re all waiting for life to get back to normal.

When will we get there?

Over the next hill and around the next corner.

In all our travels, we never found the elusive next hill and next corner, but somehow we always got where we were supposed to be at the time we were supposed to be there.

And because the next hill and next corner were always in front of us, it kept our attention focused forward.

“Back” to normal is not really an option for us. Truth be told, I’m not sure that “normal” is really something we ought to be looking for.

Where we are supposed to be is ahead, beyond the horizon.

Philippians 3:14 says, “I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.”

I’ve got lots of miles to go and lots of songs to sing before I get home. 

And every next hill and corner is part of the amazing journey.

Be amazing today, my friend.