37 Comments

“â€Ĥa bushel basket of chicken feathers.”

As always, thank you Garrison.

I now have a new favorite phrase (which will no doubt serve me well between now and November).

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Betty and I see who will make the bed first while the other is not watching. She does a meticulous job of that, and I spend maybe one minute tossing around and smoothing out three layers of covering plus 5 pillows. My finished product looks exactly the same as hers but hers will feel better tonight. rr

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"This is what we Christians live on, hope. Be cheerful, dear reader, and forge ahead. Put your regrets aside after due consideration and proceed to do what you were put here to do. Be good at it. Or good enough, and tomorrow aim for better."

Contemplating retirement - and it makes one do a lot of looking backwards, and also wary that what's left might not last long enough or might leave too much undone (my parents both died young). But I love your words, to just do the next thing and aim for better. Thank you for your words. You're so good at putting them together in just the right way.

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Thanks for your musings, Garrison. I’m from your home state in the upper Midwest that many Americans couldn’t pick out on a map. We’re OK with that! We like being a “fly-over” state â€Ĥ doesn’t bother most of us one bit. Back to your musings â€Ĥ I miss hearing them live on your PHC show. I tuned in on Saturday night from the start of PHC in the 1970’s and listened most every week until the bitter end. My older brother’s biggest claim to fame is that he attended your very first PHC show in the 1970’s I believe at Coffman Hall at the U of M when he was a student and working as a janitor at Coffman. It took him 10 years to work his way through to his degree in geology! No debt! No regrets! I’m a retired Methodist pastor of 40+ years. The only person preaching to me every Saturday night from 5-7 pm week after week, month after month, year after year, decade after decade â€Ĥ was YOU! Thank you for all your words of wisdom and common sense humanity. I have read many of your books and now I read your column on a regular basis. But I miss your weekly monologue/sermons and your deep melodious voice and slow pace â€Ĥ which always gave me plenty of time to think & reflect on how I would live my life different and try be a better person in response to your words. Thanks for the memories and for the decades of simple wisdom that I believe helped you make me a better person, husband, father and pastor. I’ve seen you perform many times in person at the Fitzgerald and at the State Fair. We saw your performance at the State Fair right after you stepped down from the PHC. It was the show where you walked around the Grandstand, filled with 17,000 people, and visited with people and sang songs and hymns. It was an amazing sent off for you after 40+ years of the PHC. I’m glad you didn’t totally disappear but continue to write and share your musings with all of us who are still listening. Be well and continue to do good!

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there are live shows going on and there is a Livestream available this weekend.

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Thanks for you comments.

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I thought the first PHC was at Walker Art Center, the first live one at Macalester, but I'm not sure. Anyway, I do a weekly podcast and I think it's free though the voice may not be so melodious anymore.

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Yesâ€Ĥyou’re probably right about the Walker Art Center. I think I assumed it was at Coffman Union since my brother worked there. We look forward to attending your live show on July 12 in St Paul!

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Well said, "deep melodious voice and slow pace"; gives one time to enjoy, smile, and let every word sink in.

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"standing and leaving ovation". Your sense of humility is something we don't see enough of these days.

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It's based in reality.

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Aspiration. Life is all about aspiration. And hope.

Add a healthy dose of delusion and you get happiness.

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All of your literary creations are incredible, but this one is my favorite (so far). Thank you for sharing so much of your soul to strangers who love and respect you.

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Sometimes I am not impressed by what you have to say- but usually I am- and today is one of the "usually" days.

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The only thing better would be to hear you tell me this story. I tried the audio but got a nasty AI I believe. So I listen to your old Writer’s Almanac audios to start my day. But your words here are still comforting.

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My wife, age 70, and I, age 80, tend toward optimism and hope for the future. We are currently traveling in the Southwest where it is relatively hot and dry, unlike Seattle where it is cool and wet. At every hotel we stay in we make our bed immediately upon rising for the day. While we are Lutheran, we still share your words to live by: Do good and everything that goes with it. We look forward to many more years of exploring our world and keeping our hotel beds neat and orderly. Be well.

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I’m pretty mad at the needless and senseless wars this country has endured since the Greatest Generation fought and died in Europe and island hopping across the Pacific. These poor kids are stuck with the deficit caused by the corruption and spending of money we don’t have on these fantasies. It’s not just the cost from keeping we old geezers aliveâ€Ĥ

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Sunny today and back to winter tomorrow, then back up in temps on Monday here in Southwestern Ohio.

Glad you get to go out and visit with your sweetie today.

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'there ain't no sunshine when she's gone,,,'

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those modern kids do not understand quality like that song above. the reality tv on the boob tube reduce the number of our intelligent brain cells.

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no regrets.....well... maybe a few.

But doing what we were put here to do is an on-going pursuit of mine. Here's hoping I find it on this day... even if it takes 40!

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I'm clinging to your ending,

'Aim to do better tomorrow.' Actually, I'm giving it a go today...

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Brilliant. I identified with every word. No need to go into detail.

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But the devil is in the details. And what good would lent be without the devil?

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