Moments that Motivate with Tim Lovelace

Send us Fan Mail A  few years back I was doing a concert in Ohio, where I was introduced to a very kind gentleman, Dwight  Spearman, who had fought in World War II. I thanked him for his service, and he was very gracious, but like most heroes, he turned the attention away from himself and humbly gave honor to the soldiers who  didn’t make it home. His stories and laughter were so enjoyable. Very f...

Send us Fan Mail There are many things that contribute to a successful garden, and pulling weeds is one of them. My family had a small gardener when I was growing up, and I’m actually one of those strange people who enjoys weeding.  Several years ago, I was visiting some dear friends in the mountains of Virginia. They had a beautiful garden, and one afternoon my friend, Maurice Baer, was going out...

Send us Fan Mail There’s something special about sharing stories. Let me explain. One of the many zany songs I have written over the years asks the question…what happened to tomatoes? The chorus says, “What happened to tomatoes? Beats all I've ever seen. The ones you buy in the store are red, but still taste green. What happened to tomatoes?  Does anybody know? They’re probably genetically al...

Send us Fan Mail At the Lovelace House we make coffee in a variety of ways. We have drip coffee, pour-overs, french press, Keurig, percolator, and more. Mary Alice has a couple of coffee makers from Germany that I call her Science project. I always feel like I need to wear a lab coat and refresh myself on the table of elements before I walk near it. Although I love a full bodied cup of coffee…let...

Send us Fan Mail A couple of years ago we had a small earthquake in our small town. Everyone was talking about it. The last time our town talked this much about an event was when we had a grand opening of a new Dairy Queen. We were the epicenter of east Tennessee hot fudge Sundaes. After our quake, neighbors would ask, “Can you believe how loud the rumble, and how it shook everything in the house?...

Send us Fan Mail The beauty of the New River Gorge in West Virginia, and the bridge that spans this mighty gorge, is spectacular. When built, it was the worlds longest steel single arch bridge. Eight hundred and seventy-six feet high.  Every year, on the third Saturday in October there is an event called the Bridge Day. They stop the traffic on the bridge so you can walk out on it. Adrenalinejunki...

Send us Fan Mail Many of us grew up when the ice cream truck roamed our neighborhoods playing music and ringing a bell that was music to our ears! I recall one day when I heard the truck go by, and I asked my mom if I could buy one of the seven cent banana popsicles. She said, “The ice cream truck has already made the neighborhood loop.” What?! She continued, “It has already passed our house twice...

Send us Fan Mail I attended Saraland Elementary school as a young boy. Every year, we had a Fall Festival to raise money, complete with a cake walk, bobbing for apples, and we even had a small enclosure for a makeshift jail.  The fifth graders were in charge of the jail. I looked forward to being a fifth grader for two or three years. Finally, I was old enough, and the teacher gave us badges and t...

Send us Fan Mail Because I have a crazy song entitled, “Living In a Coffee World,” I am often asked when I fell in love with coffee. My love for java happened when I was a young boy, but trust me, I wasn’t drinking it at that age. I was way too hyper for that, but I would go with my mom to the A&P grocery store each week, and there was one aisle that would ambush my nostrils with the wonderful...

Send us Fan Mail  When I was a young boy, we lived across the street from a large wooded area. I remember going out to play one day, and our yard was full of baby frogs. It was like an Egyptian plague, but for a five year old this wasn’t a plague. This was a party. I caught several of the frogs and played with them all day, but I did wonder where they were coming from. It happened again the next y...

Send us Fan Mail Airplanes use to offer two seat options, first class and economy. Today there are many different options; main cabin, comfort plus, etc. Before long they will say, “Everyone who didn’t fully understand the Broadway Musical ‘Cats’ may come forward.” But there is one coveted row where everyone wants to sit, and that is the emergency exit row. Many airlines are now charging extra for...

Send us Fan Mail Technology is changing every nanosecond. I’m never super excited about the latest gadget, because in a very short time, the latest and greatest becomes the latest joke going around the office. Pagers used to be hip on someone’s hip. Now they are in museums. Blackberrys were savvy, and now I only hear the word  blackberry when someone is asking for jelly at a restaurant. And not to...

Send us Fan Mail It seems like only yesterday that my four-year-old daughter, Gabrielle, asked me to teach her how to make a rock jump across the water. I was just thankful she didn't ask me to explain quantum physics or something even harder, like setting an alarm clock in a hotel room. We headed to the river in my jeep, and I told her about the importance of finding just the right rocks. We...

Send us Fan Mail My parents’ friends, the Wilsons, had a fairytale farm I used to visit, complete with a milk cow, pigs, chickens and a gentle horse named Duchess. Time spent there was magical—waking up to the rooster, milking the cow, gathering eggs for a huge country breakfast—but nothing compared to riding on Duchess. When I was around seven or eight, I convinced them to let me ride her down th...

Send us Fan Mail  My family used to camp at the Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores Alabama. There was a freshwater lake that was always full of fishing boats. I was determined to fish on that lake, but I had a few obstacles to overcome, such as, dad said my cane pole at home was too long for the car, there were no bait shops nearby, and I was eight years old without a boat. So I earned enough money to...

Send us Fan Mail I’ve been blessed to see so much of America in my lifetime. Not just the big cities, but small cities that most people have never seen, are some of my favorites. One such place is Cave-In- Rock, Illinois. The town has a cave located beside the river, thus the name. Some movies have been shot there, such as “How the West Was Won” and “Tom Sawyer.” And unless you want to take the lo...

Send us Fan Mail When snow covers the mountain behind our home, I love jumping in my truck and riding the back roads to the top of the mountain. The view from the top is absolutely breathtaking. During our last big snowfall, Mary Alice started pulling the winter gear from the closet. She knows there is always a danger of me getting stuck and having to walk, so she layered me up like a school kid....

Send us Fan Mail I grew up on the sunny Gulf Coast. We had plenty of sunshine, but when winter came, we were void of snow. As kids, we all knew the winter songs; “Let It Snow,” “White Christmas” and of course, “Frosty the Snowman.” Snow was in our songs, but never in our yard. But one cold night the weatherman shocked us, saying it may snow tomorrow. The next morning I was up early staring at a bl...

Send us Fan Mail Like a lot of children, I fell in love with drums at an early age. My first drum was a Folgers coffee can that I would beat into oblivion. I think my drumming is why my parents started taking high blood pressure medicine. When I was around eight years old, I started playing our metal trash cans. We had two cans, and our neighbor would let me borrow her two cans. There was a fire h...

Send us Fan Mail I was riding home from elementary school on my bike one day, when a classmate asked me for a ride. I pulled over and he sat sideways on the crossbars as I resumed peddling. I turned on to Oakmont Avenue, when all of a sudden I was literally flying. I enjoyed the feeling for a nanosecond, until I realized my bike was no longer with me. My landing removed freckles from my body. I sa...

Send us Fan Mail A friend came to visit us and brought an unusual gift, a little azalea bush and a bag of fertilizer. The friend said, “The next time we come to see you, we will see how the azalea bush is doing, so don't let it die.” Oh, no pressure there! Some people give gifts with a bow on top and strings attached. The problem is that I don’t have a green thumb. Mine is more the ashen gray...

Send us Fan Mail Years ago, I had a friend who was a bass player for a nationally known artist, who shall remain nameless. My friend told me how the artist traveled from city to city in a long black limousine, while the rest of the band traveled in a worn out, cargo van. The star rode in style, while the band rode in a pile. The limo, however, began having battery problems, so they carried jumper...

Send us Fan Mail My cousin David and I used to take our Red Ryder BB guns and go on Daniel Boone hunting adventures, which meant we shot a lot of coke cans off a fence post. On one such outing we were walking down a dirt road, when we saw smoke. We heard a truck leaving the smoky area, so we walked a little farther and saw flames. Jumping the barbed wire fence, we starting fighting the fire with a...

Send us Fan Mail Mention the words “metal detector” and some people immediately think of airport security systems, while others may get a mental picture of someone combing the beach. When I was young, those two words were exciting. I pictured finding rare coins. My cousin, Ron, had a metal detector, and he taught me how to sweep across the dirt and listen to the sound of certain beeps to find buri...

Send us Fan Mail As a boy, I built a lot of forts in the woods. I always wanted an impenetrable wall. Please don’t ask me why, because my wall was definitely not protecting gold and silver. The only thing of value was my peanut butter and jelly sandwich and an orange crush soft drink. But come to think of it, that cold orange crush was gold to me. I felt extremely safe behind the wall I had built....