Always Lookin' On The Bright Side*

The other night, Hubby and I were playing cards with Daughter-Only, D-O's friend FR, Youngest Niece and Next-To-Youngest Niece. I went to put in a CD and Youngest Niece piped up, "Is that the CD with 'Delta Dawn' on it?"

She has a "Delta Dawn" fixation--picked up, I think, from an episode of Friends. It's a fixation I can totally understand, "Delta Dawn" being one of the first songs I ever knew all the words* to and a fairly easy song to sing-along to--if you're prone to that kind of thing, which of course, much to the chagrin of my entire family, I am. I have "Delta Dawn" on a mixed CD I've labeled "Time Machine (Country)," which also features early work by Dolly Parton, Tammy Wynette, Loretta Lynn, Donna Fargo, and even Freddy Fender.

So I put in "Delta Dawn" and Youngest Niece and I were belting it out when three-quarters of the way through the song, Daughter-Only gets this stricken look on her face.

"Mom! Is this that CD with all the annoying country singers on it?!"

I offer a slightly evil smile: "Don't be silly honey, all the annoying country singers would never fit on one CD."


*Okay, most of the words. I've never understood exactly what kind of man stood by her side until today. At various times, I've thought it was a man "with a disease" or "with no-good knees" or "with loaded peas" or even "with goats and cheese." It seems so obvious now ("of low degree"), and I feel like a little bit of an idiot, but I maintain that it's still better than Daughter-Only thinking that Jon Bon Jovi was singing about "Bad Venison."