Musician's Widow

We made it home to Nashville from Texas yesterday morning. The 13 hour drive seemed longer than usual, and I attribute that partly to our lack of being in any hurry to come back. We just had that fabulous of a time!

Our plans to head to Oregon for Christmas were canceled thanks to budget concerns and the crazy-high prices of flights at the holidays. So we instead headed to Texas to spend the holiday with my family. Amusingly, the weather, for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, was all Oregon. Misty rain and cold. But our visit ended with warmer temps and sunshine.

I have to say… there was just something about this Christmas. It was so relaxed! It was just filled with this wonderful peace and joy. Its impossible to explain, but it was a special trip for sure. And while my husband and I knew we had to make the trip back home to Nashville to work this weekend, we just couldn’t get motivated to actually leave. We put it off as long as we could before making the long drive back.

Now, any time I am back in Texas, I have this little (okay maybe its kind of long) list of places I’d love to visit and things I’d like to do. I usually do good to knock one or two of the items off the list. This trip? I knocked off more than my fair share of things!

I got to see family, of course. Quality time with my parents, brother, sister-in-law, niece and nephew is priceless, and always at the very top of the list. I have cousins I’d really like to get to spend time with as well, but those visits tend to be rare just due to time constraints. I got to see one of my girl friends to do a quick gift exchange. But friends’ visits will have to wait until I am down for an extended period of time for tax season. And that’s okay… we can spend more time than the rushed visits of the holidays.

Food: Whataburger! Freebirds! Mexican food in general! Green’s Sausage House! Czech Stop! Hiway 77 Cafe! Blue Bell and Dr Pepper! (Granted I can get both of those in Nashville, too, but they just taste better when actually IN Texas.) Places: Aggieland! Frenstat, where my husband and I got married, and where my grandparents are all buried. Cavender’s Boot City!

I got to do all of these things! Crazy cool, I gotta admit. Oh, I always leave things left undone. We wanted to go for a drive in my old truck from high school. There are various people we would love to go visit. And there are locations we always want to take time to explore, but we rarely have time to do so.

But you know, that’s a good thing. I would hate to ever leave not wanting more time.

Time visiting Texas is precious to me. Nashville is definitely home, but I’m a Texan at heart for life. And a Texas Christmas? Well… that’s just something super special to me. Now I look ahead to a planned trip to Oregon in the next couple of months. Ready to go experience my husband’s home with him and embrace his list of things to do. Bring it on!

Some days, I get up and I have energy to burn. My legs itch to run. I imagine myself doing cartwheels. I want to play or attack cleaning the house.

All too often, life dictates I do something else. Something more mundane. Something… not what I want to do.

Today? I gave in to the want. Indian Summer… the temps hit mid 70s today, and the sun broke through the clouds as I stepped out on my porch. Instantly I wanted to be 10 years old again, running through the field, swinging on a swing, playing a game of baseball.

And I decided… the laundry could wait. The blog could wait. The CD design could wait. The dishes could wait. I was going to play.

I got out my bike, and I rode up and down the drive way. Down was the most fun, where I didn’t even have to pedal, just let the wind whip my hair. I rode down, into the grass, around the garage and had to stand up and push to keep momentum back up onto the concrete. My legs screamed at me. I loved it.

I rode until I was panting and my hair was damp with sweat. Then I came into the house, and kept the forward motion going — cleaning the kitchen, starting the laundry and making spaghetti for supper. My husband commented that I was just a flurry of energy today.

And I was! All because I decided to take an hour out of my day and go outside to play.

Loved. It.

Oh Wilson County Fair, how I look forward to you every year. We missed you last year, and for that I am sorry. But we came out last night, as you treated us so very good.

The Wilson County Fair, in Lebanon, TN, is one of the best fairs I’ve ever been to in my life. They just have it figured out! Great selection of food. Tons of rides. A free concert. A petting zoo. And pig races. In the past they’ve had a banana derby (Monkeys riding dogs!!) but they were sadly absent this year.

My husband and I attended this year with a big group of friends, which just seemed to up the fun factor. Nothing like sharing a ferris wheel pod with another couple that you know, or sharing your various deep fried goodies. (And let it be known, everything tastes better “on a stick.”)

I literally turn into a 10 year old the days leading up to attending the fair. I actually had an upset tummy out of sheer excitement yesterday morning! Then I joked I’d end up with a sick stomach from eating things like chocolate covered bacon, deep friend strawberry short cake and deep fried cookie dough. I think I drank my weight in fresh shaken lemonade and sweet tea mix!

John Anderson was the headliner for the night at the free concert. I’d never seen him live, and it wasn’t high on my list of things to do at the fair. (So many rides, so much food, so little time!) But I am glad my husband insisted… he was GREAT! And I have to admit, when he sang “Swingin’” I got super excited and gave my parents a concert call.

Ah… so good to see these pure country artists getting a lot of love from a big crowd. Makes my country-lovin’-music-business-livin’ heart proud.

We ended the night with a little more fair food, and lots of big hugs with friends. We had an amazing time, and we’re trying to figure out if we can fit another trip out there before it ends this year. I hope we can, but if not? My heart is full of joy from the night. And I can almost (almost) feel Fall starting to make its way to us.

Sunday afternoon was gorgeous. One of those perfect days. Temperature in the mid-70s. Sun shining. It beckoned for us to come outside and play.

So my husband jumped in the truck with no plan in mind. We ultimately ended up at a sports bar and grill, sitting beside an open window, just enjoying being out. We had a delicious barbecue dinner, and then just sat. Visiting. People watching. We paid no mind to the clock.

We contacted a couple who live close to us to see if they wanted to join us. They did and then we really proceeded to ignore the clock! Laughter. Stories. A few shared pitchers of beer between us all. It was wonderful!

As the evening drew to a close, we finally looked at our watches. My husband and I had been there almost 7 hours by that time! Where had all those hours gone!?

I have to say with certainty… those hours were far from wasted. How often do you just ignore the clock? How often do you not have somewhere else to be? How often do you find yourself in the company of people that you don’t feel the need to go, “Oh gosh, when can I get out of here?”

We left the bar, and I had a smile on my face. It was a very relaxing afternoon and evening. I was thankful for good friends, beautiful weather, my husband, and having a carefree attitude for a day. Monday would come soon enough, and responsibilities would be knocking on the door. But in that moment… I wasn’t worried about them.

I didn’t know I needed that time without borders, but I am sure grateful I had it.

My husband and I attended an “Adult Play Date” at Adventure Science Center this week with a group of friends. The center was for 21 and over only, as you got two drink tickets with your ticket to enter. The description of the night said all the exhibits were made to hold adults, so it was an adults chance to come play without kids around.

We’d never been to the science center before. I had wanted to take my niece and nephew when they’d visited last summer, but it just never worked out with our schedule. I was incredibly curious about what we’d find in that big building with the multi-colored pyramid roof.

What we found was our chance to all become 8-year-olds again. I looked around and constantly saw 30-somethings gleefully going down slides and playing with countless science experiments. I sat with our beers and my purse at one point while my husband climbed a jungle-gym to the top of the building and then slid down a twisty slide. I had to laugh as adult after adult literally ran to get in line to ride the slide. When my husband got back, it was my turn. There was something extremely freeing to jump in a tube slide and whoosh (kind of… I kept getting stuck… too tall!) down to the bottom.

Me and my husband on a heat-signature wall

We laughed, we learned, and we all agreed that we couldn’t wait to go back some day.

Perhaps the coolest part of the whole night was the planetarium show. We only had a short 10-minute presentation, but that huge rounded screen over our heads was incredible.

They gave us a taste of a laser light show that they are putting on this Saturday for Halloween. As the stars spun behind the lasers, I found myself dizzy but unable to look away. Metallica (“Enter Sandman”) thumped in my ears, and the lasers created image after image. It was incredible! I think if anyone would have been watching me, they’d have seen my eyes glowing like a five-year-old’s at Christmas.

We had such an incredible night! Next time my brother and his family visit, we will definitely make the science center a place to visit. My nephew would absolutely flip over everything!

This all came on the heels of going to a corn maze a few days before. This has become something of a fall tradition for us, going to a different maze every year the last three years. This year we went with a big group of friends, which just made it even better.

We also have our costumes picked out for Halloween. We will go out Saturday night for awhile, and then we can’t wait to hand out candy Sunday.

So I guess, at heart, we are forever kids. We never lose our want to “go play” — we are just trained that as we grow up, other things take over in importance. We learn how to squash that want because its “inappropriate,” opting instead to sit on the sidelines making sure others are having fun.

That’s what makes this time of year so special. There are so many options that encourage adults to go be a kid again. It’s really okay. Have some fun and don’t apologize for it.

Friends at the corn maze!

30 Bound

I am just over a month away from the big three-oh.

It’s a big birthday! No more twenty-something for me. Another decade passed. Another decade begun.

Between me and all of you, I’m actually kind of looking forward to it. I can’t even explain it in a way that makes sense. I’m just optimistic that my 30s will be great… and I am sticking with that optimism.

No big plans as of yet for my birthday. Luckily, so far, it seems my husband will be home for it. It’s a wait and see if that holds or not. You never know with this crazy business. It wouldn’t be the first time he’s missed my birthday due to a gig, and I always understand. But this one is special. This one is 30. More than ever, I want him here to celebrate if at all possible!

I’ve been having a little fun lately. I decided for giggles to make a wish list for my birthday. When I was a kid, I’d make a list for my birthday just like at Christmas. Things I want for my birthday. I’ve not made a list like that in a long time, so I thought it would be fun for this one. As I got started I decided that, to take it to the next level, I’d make it a list of 30 items. 30 for 30.

Believe it or not, it was actually very challenging. I’m not good at asking for stuff. Especially now that I’ve gotten good at tightening the belt. If its not absolutely necessary, then its not really worth looking at getting.

So, this really did take me about three days to put together. I added a little bit of everything in the end. Everything from a little silly to silly expensive. Some of these are specifically what I want. Others are just ideas.

So here it is in fancy widget-form thanks to Amazon.com… my birthday list.

Mostly for my own amusement.

Oh okay, it never hurts to throw it out there, right?

;)