I Dare you not to hear it

Life is good. We've had a few rain showers. My grass, which was borderline turning brown is now just a lighter shade of green. But something else has been on my mind the past few days. Literally.

This morning I was trying to take a peaceful walk down our country road, and my brain decided to provide the most ridiculous soundtrack imaginable.

Step, step, step-step-step. Step, step, step-step-step.

The Gilligan's Island theme song. Perfectly synchronized with my footsteps. I kid you not.

This isn't some beautiful melody that makes me feel inspired or connected to the quiet morning around me. This isn't even a decent song I could admit to humming. No, I'm marching down this empty gravel road with just the dogs for company, keeping perfect time to a bumbling first mate's adventures, and I can't make it stop.

It started three days ago when I was flipping through YouTube and ended up clicking on an old video from Gilligan’s Island. The theme was playing. I remembered it from the show, watching it as a kid. And then, it got stuck. Thirty seconds! That's all it took for my brain to decide this was the most important piece of information I'd received all week. And it’s hanging on.

Yesterday I actually stopped dead in my tracks halfway down the road, and turned around, thinking maybe if I went in a different direction, I could reset whatever had gone haywire in there. The dogs looked at me like I'd lost my mind, tails wagging, waiting for me to explain why we'd suddenly stopped when we were just getting started. I re-tied my shoe, adjusted my pants, but the minute I started walking again, there it was, picking right back up where it left off. Like my brain has a mind of its own.

What's wrong with me? Is this what happens when you hit a certain age? Does your brain just start collecting the most useless information and playing it back at some random moment?

I sometimes will listen to podcasts when I walk. Keeps me occupied and distracted, but I’ve been seeing evidence of bears on my walking trail. And I don’t want to accidentally come face to face with a bear while I’m listening to the importance of developing daily habits. I can tell you the phone and the earbuds would be tossed and I would be running.

So until I'm more comfortable enlightening myself via podcasts, or listening to an audio book, for now, it’s just me, the dogs and a three-hour tour.

And whichever inane song might replace it.

The Cowboy's Reunion

The heroine of The Cowboy's Reunion also loves to sing, though I'm not sure she gets silly songs stuck in her head. She has other musical dreams. She plays a guitar but also plays piano. Something I always wanted to learn. My parents, however, weren't able to afford it. I was eventually allowed to take guitar lessons. More portable and a much cheaper investment. So, instead, like all good writers, I live out my fantasies via my characters.

Well, some of the fantasies. I mean, she does end up stranded on the side of the road, cold, chilled and sick and out of money because someone stole it all. I'll skip that part....

Hope you have a chance to read this book. Click on the cover to purchase. It comes in e-book as well as paperback for those of you who like to hold an actual book in your hands.