I can die now.

Me. Garth Brooks. In the same room.

Where: Schermerhorn Symphony Hall, Nashville, TN
When: November 26, 2007, apx. 10:00 pm
What: Musicians Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony

And now I can die.

Okay, just kidding about the dying part, but NOT just kidding about what a momentous occasion it was for me. I have loved Garth Brooks and his music since I was a little girl growing up in Oklahoma. I literally used to cry when he would come to town and my parents wouldn't take me to see his concert because we couldn't afford it, and because it probably wasn't the ideal atmosphere for a 7 year old.

Much to my chagrin, by the time I was old enough to take myself to a Garth show, he wasn't exactly touring any more. At all. Ever. At some point he retired, really retired, from the biz and settled down with Miss Trisha Yearwood and lived on his farm in Yukon, OK and left fans like me with less than a glimmer of hope that we might ever see him again.

Just this past month Garth played eight sold-out nights of shows in Kansas City, the first time he'd been on stage in that sense in many years... and I missed that too. By the time I found out about it, tickets were being scalped on eBay for hundreds of dollars.

So today, when my friend Carolyn shot me an email and said she had some tickets to this random thing tonight and Garth was supposedly one of the presenters/performers and did I want to go, the answer was a resounding "Ef yes!"

The whole night ended up being an amazing experience of music and I want to write more on that later, but for now I'll just say that Garth was there, and he performed Elvis Presley's hit "Suspicious Minds" and it was fantabulous and I'll never forget it... how Carolyn and I clutched each others hands as we saw his trademark cowboy hat appear stage left, how he respectfully doffed said hat as the musicians he was honoring took the stage, how he grabbed Creed (yes, that Creed, from "The Office") and they sang gleefully into the mic together... seriously, it was so great!

Anyway, I want to write more later about the other wonderful musicians we saw (George freakin' Jones was also in the house, plus the bands that backed Elvis, Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline, and many more), but for now I'd just like to end with those thoughts on my first - but hopefully not last - encounter with my very favorite entertainer.

Thankful

Thanksgiving is great, no? Time off work, family, food, changing of seasons. This year I have been thinking a lot about how people say they are "thankful" for something... but thankful to whom? I know that in all things, for every blessing I have, for every small and seemingly insignificant breath I take, I am thankful to God. Not a god or some higher power, but THE God, Yahweh, I AM, who crafted the foundations of the earth and sent Christ to save me and love me, to accomplish the dual purpose of glorifying His mercy and justice.


I think most people could list the things they are thankful for, but how many of the same could articulate to whom their thanks is given? Gratitude is by nature directed at someone or something. We can certainly show gratitude to other people - I'm thankful to my parents for how they raised and loved me; I'm thankful to my husband for his caring and thoughtfulness. But what of the things I am thankful FOR? I am thankful FOR my husband... who am I thanking? His parents, for having him? Sure, I guess. But more than that, I am thankful that he is in my life, for the man he is and the man he is still becoming, for the father he will be and the home we'll have together. To whom can I send those thanks? I know who I am here to thank. I know to whom I answer for all the blessings poured out in abundance. I know that the cause of those things I am thankful for is not some cosmic force of karma or a result of my own good deeds.

Our gratitude is without much meaning unless we find that to which it deserves to be directed. I hope you know to whom you are giving thanks.

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
Worship the Lord with gladness;
Come before him with joyful songs
Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Psalm 100

Where's my face? Oh, that's right, it got rocked off.

Yep, Family Force 5 officially rocked my face off tonight! Ben and I caught their show at Rocketown, and it was just plain fun.

They are a great band I first discovered at GMA Music Week last year, playing one of the label lunches. I had heard of them but didn't think I would like their music, and I guess I was wrong! They are quite unlike anything else I listen to, but it is so stinkin' fun! Good clean music with silly lyrics about drama queens and dancing your booty off and being from the dirty (sorry, "durrrty") south. Excellent for driving fast and inner-car dancing.

If you haven't heard them, check it out at www.myspace.com/familyforce5. They're a little punk, a little rock, a little dance, a little rap, and a lot crazy. The show was so high energy... I was wearing earplugs so I couldn't really tell how loudly I was singing/screaming. I guess I must've been loud because I am a bit hoarse now. But well worth it... plus I think all the dancing and jumping I did counts as an aerobic workout.

RIGHT-of-way

Okay, this one has been a long time coming, and this morning as I sat at a stoplight and experienced this yet again, I decided I couldn't wait any more. So, I present to you this, the third in my series of blogs about driving. This one is about that mysterious circumstance, that elusive phrase... RIGHT-OF-WAY.

If you are one of the typical drivers I encounter on any given day, you have no idea what this phrase means. Or maybe you always thought people were saying "right away" or "write a way" or something else nonsensical. But no, the phrase is "Right-of-way" and it means pretty much what it sounds like - "right" gets the "way." Now this is not a slam on all my left-handed friends and family out there (what up Dad, Heather, Tim), but just a way of the world. Well, most of the world. Maybe in England they say "left-of-way?"

Understanding right-of-way comes in handy in many situations, but let's just reveal how it will help in two different scenarios, shall we?

SCENARIO ONE: Two Cars Arrive at a 4-way Stop-Sign at the Same Time

You pull up to a stop sign at the same time as another car... who goes first? Is it whoever can get their foot on the gas quickest? Or is it the person whose car cost more? Will this quickly disintegrate into a series of waves and points and confused halting? What if you both just sit there forever?

Have no fear! Right-of-way handily explains how to proceed. The person to the RIGHT gets the WAY! They go first, followed by the next person clockwise from there and so on and so forth. Unless all four cars arrived at the identical same time, or unless it is two cars facing, both of in which case someone just starts and it should proceed from there, right-of-way prevails.


SCENARIO TWO: A Green Light with No Arrow for Both Someone Turning Right and an Opposing Driver Turning Left

I can not TELL you how many people don't get this one. Okay. If you are driving, and you come to a stoplight, and it is green, and you need to turn right, guess what? YOU get to go! You are going RIGHT so you get the WAY. If you stop and look around frantically, this only encourages the other people in this scenario, the left turners.

And now I'm speaking to you, person turning left on green with no arrow. YOU are turning left, and as I've made clear, the term is RIGHT of WAY. So you must wait until there are no opposing cars turning right, or until you get an arrow.


POP QUIZ! In the following picture, all three cars arrived at the stop sign at the same time. Who goes first?

The answer is.... the YELLOW car! Followed by... the GREY car! Followed by the blue car! Does it matter if the blue car man is impatient and wants to go first? NO, because he doesn't have the right of way!

Questions? Confusions? Concerns you might be a violator of these rules? Leave 'em in the comments. Don't worry, I'll let you know.