What would you do or buy if money were no object? $4.6 million recently purchased for an anonymous buyer the grave plot directly over Marilyn Monroe. One would be hard pressed to say whether the buyer was a fan or just a fanatic. Guess if you have that kind of money you can do whatever you want to with it. So close and yet so far away … their purchase will not get them really any closer to the famed actress. Will it make them happy? They will have to be dead to use it and for now all they have is bragging rights.
Recently while on vacation we toured the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, Tenn. While there, we saw first hand some of the things that wealth and fame can bring to people. The museum is home to artifacts too numerous to mention, costumes, instruments, automobiles, etc. While the museum in itself was entertaining, they work hard to preserve the history of country music. Much of country music started with down home singing in churches and in homes across the South. We were especially proud when we saw a video clip of the Star Fiddlers Convention from the early 1900s. Star, N.C., is Wally’s home town. It was a delight to see.
We also toured the Ryman Auditorium. The Ryman Auditorium first opened its doors in 1892 as a church. It is a National Historic Landmark and former home of the Grand Ole Opry (1943-1974) and has been called the Mother Church of Country Music. In 2006, Tennessee presented the Ryman Auditorium with a historical marker designating it as the Birthplace of Bluegrass. The Ryman today is host to some of the best in the entertainment industry. Its more-than-100-year-old music tradition continues. We enjoyed our behind the stage tour and our moment in the spotlight on her stage.
It is amazing what people of fame spend their money on. We have to say though that for some their contributions live on after them making a difference in the world for others.
Walls of gold records and the Hall of Fame Rotunda speak to lives lived with a passion. Many realized their dreams while most of them realized that even fame had a price.
What’s that got to do with us, you say? It’s not likely that any or many of us will ever realize even a degree of fame. But yet we like those people have a life to live. Are you living yours with passion or are you, like me, sometimes sort of listlessly going through the motions? There are lots of projects I have started that I have let life as I know it keep me from finishing. Whose fault is that? My own. Will I determine to accomplish those things? A doctor once told me when I had been sick a while that it was going to take prayer and time to get better. Guess life is all about perspective. With prayer and time I am going to resolve to actually live with passion. Prayer and time – probably the best advice I’ve ever received. Maybe we should do what Saint Francis of Assisi said: “Start by doing what’s necessary, then what’s possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible.”
Who’s to say what we can really accomplish if we only try.
Simply Sandy is written by Sandy Jarrell and appears the first Wednesday of each month. Simply put, it’s Sandy waxing wordy once a month about life as she knows it. Jarrell is a native and life-long resident of Coleridge and a librarian at Ramseur Public Library. She can be reached by e-mail at wjarrell@rtmc.net
