... vs. Florida Man - Jive Talkin

"Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things." Philippians 4:8 [NIV]

At the end of a hard day there is nothing quite like sitting down with the hubby and perusing his favorite meme videos on YouTube. It never fails to lighten whatever burdens might be upon my shoulders and usually generates quite a bit of laughter. A popular meme of late is one entitled "Florida Man". The gist of these little video bumps has any number of male Florida residents attempting to do something none too bright that ends in disaster. The bi-line usually reads something akin to: "Today in Florida", or "Meanwhile, in Florida" or "Florida Man Does It Again" ... you get the picture.

Funny? Usually. But more and more often lately, for some reason, the frequency with which these FL Man videos bombard the interwebs gets my goat. What of all the GREAT things about the state in which I reside? 

With this thought doggedly running a treadmill in my brain I was inspired to match the sarcastic finger pointing with my own little brand of spotlight pointed at the wonderful things for which Florida Man doesn't receive credit. "dot dot dot vs. Florida Man - Jive Talkin" is my first attempt at this endeavor. Please enjoy ... and I thank you for reading.

Turning my head to look out the passenger side window as Steven and I turned right onto Race Track road, it occurred to me that there could not have ever been a more perfect sunny Florida day. Light was bouncing off road signs, flowers seemed to glow in vibrant colors, the love bugs were out in force, and there wasn't a single cloud in a perfectly blue sky. The icing on the cake? Only in the first throws of May [happy birthday Mom Dalton], we haven't reached triple digit temperatures yet.

...AND, the Bee Gees were playing over my Amazon Music ap.

Gotta admit. I have a thing for the Bee Gees. How could you not?

As the beat started for "Jive Talkin'" my toes tapped, my fingers snapped, and of course I did my passenger seat dance, ignoring the stares from passers by. Steven laughed at me - or I should say - he laughed WITH me, and then told me that the beat to which I was so spastically boppin' started out as the rhythm of tires on the Biscayne Bridge. 

Right here ... in the Sunshine State.

Take THAT Florida Man!

At a live concert in Los Vegas way back in 1976 the Bee Gees took to the stage and divulged how the song came to fruition. The band hadn't had a hit single in quite some time, and perhaps were a bit low and discouraged when they hit the bridge from Miami to Key Biscayne. Rather than placing their focus and energy on the "dry spell", they kept on truckin'. Or as my late and most awesome Grandfather Babb would say - they kept on plowin'. Feeling the beat when they crossed the 5.4 mile expanse, they [much like me] started boppin' and keeping time to the sound.

...of a bridge.

Ku-chunk, ku-chunk, ku-chunk.

Viola. One of my favorite golden oldies was born.

image: Biscayne Bay Bridge/Rickenbaucher causeway

Just for fun, Steven and I took a drive down San Jose to cross the Julington Creek bridge. It took some time, but we DID eventually manage to hit the right rhythm with our own tires at - surprisingly - 27 mph, laughing and singin' along to Jive Talkin'.

Things on this planet right now seem less than ideal. Less that true and right and lovely. Less than pure, less than admirable or praiseworthy. But there ARE still some beautiful moments to be had upon it. Pretty days, light weather, bird song, and music if we choose to focus those things - on right, true, and admirable.

Even if it's a tiny moment falling into the rhythm of tires on a bridge.