Remains of the day....

Update: the pool party was SO much fun! Look at the joy on this face; we had three hours of non-stop JOY! Instead of "remains of the day", I probably should have titled this post "Carpe Diem".. SEIZE the day. Because if you don't, it'll be gone..

 

So. Ed is gone; I remember him so well, introducing the master of talk show hosts with a barker's cry.."Heeeeeeeeeeere's Johnny!" I loved The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson; he was such a class act. Jay Leno was good, but he was no Johnny. And, I have a sad feeling that the future will only bring less class and more brass. And then there's Farrah. Oh, the wings.. the glorious, streaked, shining, beautiful wings of hair. They made us all dream; we believed that WE could fly, just like her. Except, without perfect, shining teeth, and an amazingly perfect body, and that kittenish personna that made men want to own her. But in her time? Farrah WAS woman. Forget Helen Reddy; Farrah's roar was heard round the world, but it sounded like a purr.
And Michael. MJ. The King of Pop. I remember The Jackson 5; I didn't have their albums (I DID have "Puppy Love", by Donny Osmond, and yes, I'm talkin' vinyl). I remember Michael, and how,when I was in my early 20's he blew me away with "Thriller". He was the King, the cutting edge, THE MAN. His dancing took my breath away, and his lyrics did, too. I still don't fully understand the train wrecks that kept happening in his life, that ended up turning an icon into a laughing stock. I just know that, no matter what the later years brought, they cannot take away the brilliance that was Michael Jackson in his younger days.
Oh friends.. there's a 4th loss here. Most of you probably haven't heard and wouldn't know who she was even if you did. But Jeannie C. Riley was another icon in MY town; in Nashville, she made BIG waves in the 60's with "Harper Valley, PTA". She also sang "The Girl Most Likely" and "Country Girl", among others. She was beautiful, but more than that, she was bold. She wore miniskirts when other country mavens wore granny dresses, and she WAS the mom in Harper Valley.
Four losses in 24 hours. The cultural fabric of my life has four more holes in it; it's starting to look like cheesecloth. And I cannot help but to wonder if my Bug Hunter has "icons" like these to mark the moments in his life. It seems as if fame is more fleeting now; am I right, or am I just getting too old to really "see" the current stars?
Meanwhile, in the remains of MY day, I see a house that is littered with the detrius of play. The girls next door came over, and they and the Bug went through my craft stuff to "make things". They played in his playroom, and then they brought his playroom into the rest of the house. They filled and burst 150 water balloons in the back yard. And soon, we will meet at a house that Handsome Hubby is in the process of selling; it has a lovely pool, and we're havin' a pool party, complete with pizza and tunes! At the end of the day, I look at the mess and count it as victory; there was a lot of laughter and joy, much fun, and great memories. Considering how fleeting life can be, I think that, for now, I am content.