On the 8th day of "pre CD release" Eric gave to me

"Too Close To Heaven"

(I) Made Too Many wrong mistakes

-Yogi Berra

Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them
- Bruce Lee


Well, as all loyal readers of this blog know, my brother Wendell helped cowrite every song on "My Brother's Keepers". Sometimes the initial song idea was mine, sometimes the initial idea was his but all songs are considered written 50% by me and 50% by Wendell. Of course in practice nothing is ever exactly 50/50 . As with any creation/production team, sometimes we contributed virtually equal parts, but more often than not one of us or the other contributed more on a given song. That's how all team creation works and as long as the time and effort are split equally it is a fair set up.

I tell you this to say, Wendell had "Too Close To Heaven" most of the way done before I ever heard it. I loved music and story of the song so I was happy to help polish it up. However to be fair he did the lion's share on this one. Therefore I thought it would be more accurate (not to mention a cool treat) for Wendell to tell the tale directly to you.

So without further ado .........I give you, Wendell:

10,000 feet in the air, 500 miles per hour and negative fifty degrees Fahrenheit. There is something very sobering about getting on an airplane. Which is why they serve alcohol. They say flying is safer than driving, but I'll bet you are more likely to say a prayer going down a runway than down your driveway. And while your mind is on that, life introduces you to the unknown person you will be sitting two inches from for the next hour. But what if that person is someone you know. Would that be better? Maybe not.

Too Close to Heaven is a story about a man who is forced to confront someone from his past at that humbling 10,000 feet. Someone he didn't expect to see just then. Someone who knows just how un-pious he is when his feet are on solid ground. Headphones, a magazine and antisocial behavior are not an option. He has to talk. He has to admit to himself that he has not always been a nice person. And why not admit that to his old acquaintance too? The story ends with an opportunity to rekindle what these two once had.

If I ever get the chance to remake a bad decision, I hope I get to do it on an airplane. I think that would give me the best chance of doing things better than I've done before. After all, one mile over Atlanta is too close to heaven to start telling lies again.