2004 Soap Box Archives

Disseration On Turning 68 10/25/04

As I approach my seventh decade on Planet Earth through the celebration of my 68th birthday on the 28th of October my first reaction is,” Where did the time go?”

When I realize that we’re four years into the twenty-first century, that the Statue of Liberty, which is fifty years older than I am, is one hundred and eighteen years old and that the kids I used to hold in my lap are now graduating high school, it’s enough to make you stop and think.

But you should never stop and think for too long. You never allow grass seed to germinate under your feet, you just keep moving.

Life, at any time of life, is too precious to waste and has its sweet rewards no matter what your age. You just have to keep on living it one day at a time and make every twenty-four hours count.

And let me assure you that age, at least mentally speaking, is very much a state of mind. I believe that a person who engages in something, which he or she truly loves, benefits greatly whether it be vocation or hobby.

My vocation and hobby just happens to be the creation and performance of music and all the things which go along with it. There is always another hill to climb, another challenge to meet, another song to write, another show to play, and though I don’t move about quite as fast as I did in my younger years, I still put a lot into a concert, and conversely, I get a lot out of it.

When people ask me when I’m going to retire I simply say, ” If I retired what would I do, sit around the living room and play guitar? I may as well be getting paid for it.”

The life I live can and has torn some otherwise strong men apart after many years of being in one town one night and another the next.
Motel rooms and truck stop food can take a toll, and riding hundreds of miles between engagements can get a little old.

And you’re always working while everybody else is playing and most holidays are just another workday to you.

Yes it’s rough out here, but I like it out here.

Give me a long stretch of smooth highway, a big crowd of people, a stage and a fiddle and let me have at it for an hour and a half and you’ll get no complaints from me.

And when that’s over let’s move on down the road a a few hundred miles and do it again, just give me the chance to see what’s over the next hill, even though I may have seen it a thousand times.

Put the big wheels on the highway and let ‘er roll and bring on that 68th. Lord willing I’ll be right here waiting for it.

Pray for our troops.

What do you think?

God Bless America

Charlie Daniels