Sentiment Sunday {ADMIRATION}

Greetings Trixie-Scrappers! Welcome to the July edition of Sentiment Sunday. This month’s sentiment is ADMIRATION.

ad-mi-ra-tion (ad-muh-rey-shuhn) : 1. a feeling of wonder, pleasure or approval 2. the act of looking on or contemplating with pleasure: admiration of fine paintings 3. an object of wonder, pleasure, or approval: The dancer was the admiration of everyone 4. Archaic. wonder; astonishment

There are many people, concepts and things that I admire, as I’m sure is true for you too. When I was thinking about a layout that would reflect this sentiment and be fun to work out, I kept returning to the notion of my secret crush. I started looking through old photos and had even picked a couple that were really suitable. But then I had some sober second thoughts. First of all, he doesn’t know he was my secret crush… 40 years ago. He and I have reconnected and are friends now, something that we weren’t… really… before. I would hate to embarrass him if he ever saw my layout and even worse, I’d hate to upset his wife, someone I like a great deal. So it was on to Plan B. The results are below…

I’ve harboured a not-so-secret crush on Hal Ketchum since 1991; my kids tease me unmercifully when they catch me indulging in my enjoyment of this guy. For those of you who aren’t country music fans, let me tell you about Hal… He grew up in the Adirondacks before moving to Texas. He only dabbled in music until someone heard him playing and singing in a bar. The next thing he knew, this master carpenter had written a string of hits for the country charts, starting with Small Town Saturday Night (which described the towns I grew up in to a tee) then Past the Point of Rescue, Hearts are Gonna Roll and Mama Knows the Highway. He recorded nine albums in all and had 6 top 10 hits. But life hasn’t been all party for my hero Hal. In 1998 he became ill with a neurological disorder called acute transverse myelitis that robbed him of the use of the left side of his body. He went through aggressive rehab – recovering his ability to play the guitar, build toys and paint, only to be diagnosed later with multiple sclerosis, the same disorder that took his mother’s life. In recent years he’s been on the road, bringing his music to small towns and big fans.

Who or what do you admire? Your mission is to create a layout honouring the source of your admiration then post it to the Trixie Scraps Gallery so that we can all share your sentiment. Who knows, you could find your layout featured in the next Sunday Showoffs.

~Jan