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.