What words can I use to describe these two days? Unbelievable? Indescribable? Amazing? Nearly perfect? No words? Incredible? Yes, all those things and more! Not perfect, but oh so better than oh so many vacations and events than in the past. 20 years. I think we have finally hit our grove in communication after 20 years of trying. I can catch myself and apologize. We can move on in the conversation and not let something ruin the "date." And we even teased each other on the way home and said, "What can I say to ruin this incredible two day vacation in the last two hours of the trip like I did last time?" Yeah, not doing that ever, ever again. There were some bits of frustrating like Nashville traffic. To quote Jared from his post on Twitter, "I propose a new unit of measure: The / A Nashville Mile 4,921 feet (so, not even a mile) Requires 30 mins or more to travel (can be covered faster by walking) In a way, it’s opposite of a New York Minute. Nashville deserves the traffic reputation of Atlanta. #WhyEvenTry" Yes, it was that bad for him. Old streets. Slow cars because it's the south and everybody wants to be hospitable or something. I don't know. We are definitely never moving to south. I only go to Nashville, and really only to Cool Springs/Brentwood/Franklin because of Christian music artists work and live there. That's it. There's no other appeal. Take us north, Lord, please!
Otherwise, our driving time was pleasant enough. And just long enough. Jared held up ok. He was in a bit of pain near the end. Shooting pain down his leg, along his hip from sitting too long. We did have to stop a couple of times each way so he could stretch and walk it out. And we walked to our late lunch/early dinner so we could stretch our legs, and we walked around a bit before we left on Tuesday for the same reason. I wasn't as sore as I normally am because we did that. But now we know our limits. 4-5 hrs in the car per day. That's it. He did a great job managing his pain without pain medication but you could tell he was holding it in for my sake. I offered him ibuprofen but he refused it. We were both a little bit on edge and antsy in the last couple of hours near home so it was a good thing he had bought an audiobook before we left. It was a Kyle Idleman book about Grace. Pretty basic, but good to listen to. Kyle Idleman is a preacher at Southeast Christian Church right outside of Louisville, KY. They are a megachurch, sister church, to us. I've listened to their sermons before. We managed to listen to 3 out of 4 of the cd's during the trip. Weather wise, we had all kinds, from spits of rain, to downpours, to rain on one side of the highway and one on ours, to bright sunshine. Pretty typical of summer traveling.
Speaking of summer traveling. Despite it being the weekdays, Monday and Tuesday, we kept track and saw 33 different state license plates! All the way from Alaska, to California, to Texas, to Florida, to Maine! Isn't that crazy! We didn't count the ones on the trailers of tractor trailers because they come from all over, RV's themselves count because they are usually listed in the same state as the owners' vehicles. We love playing the license plate game! See the full list of states below in the screenshots.
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| Louisiana, Arizona, Massachusetts, Montana, and Nevada, round out the list to 33!!! |
I'll finish up with the driving portion of our trip. Some of the frustrating parts of course was slow traffic and construction. On one highway, it came to a complete standstill for no reason we could see. Like they completely blocked off the high way for 15 minutes. People even got out of their cars to see what was happening. We were traveling west to try to avoid downtown Louisville. And then, all of sudden, we were let go like nothing happened. Weird. Oh, and Jared did get an oil change done in the van. At first they said it would be an hour long wait but they ended up getting him in less than 10 minutes later, praise God. I was moving slowly on Monday morning and he was ready to go way before I was. He couldn't sleep past 5am so he had gotten up and quietly made his tea and coffee when I was fast asleep or something. We did leave right around 10. Hardly anyone was wearing masks or really social distancing as we traveled. Kentucky still had parts of the stores shut down, like indoor seating. We stopped for the bathroom and a pick me up snack of fries and Starbucks (McDonald's was right next to Starbucks) so I got my caffeine fix pretty much right on time, yeah! I still took some migraine medication because we walked in the heat to lunch/dinner and I'm glad I did.
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| A little out of order here. Nashville with it's Batman (cowl) looking tower. |
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| Good 'ole Tennesee! |
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| 22 minutes into my 41st year of life. Turned 40 yrs old on the road with my husband on our way to TN! |
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| I didn't bring any make up or fancy dresses, but I did do my nails! Took forever the night before, but I had some Color Street peel on nail polish from a few years back that still worked, so I did them! I'd rather put something on that I can also enjoy than clog my facial pores that only others can enjoy. |
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| I started to wake up and warm up my blabber mouth (see the 6th paragraph down below) after this yummy goodness. |
Nothing else eventful happened on the way down, except for me panicking about the time. I didn't realize that we went back in hour and thought we were going to be late for our reservation and the concert blah blah blah. And then I looked at my phone again. The time had changed. And I muttered to myself, "Just hit me over the head, please. What an idiot, I am! Stop panicking!" But, Jared, cool as a cucumber, kept just doing the next thing, walking us into the hotel to check in. See, this is why I like to have him with me now. He can be the calm one, make the right decision in the chaos, and lead the way, keeping us safe. Yes, I know I can lead, I can keep the children and I safe. I'm 40 years old. I'm a confident person. I just prefer not to. I can focus more on having fun and enjoying the surroundings when I don't have to worry about the details. So Jared just calmly walks up the desk and gets the keys and away we go up the elevator after we figure out how to tap the elevator with our key and THEN hit the floor number. Fun times! See, I would be embarrassed and my heart would beat faster and then it would awful.
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| Quick! Elevator selfie! We suck at selfies! |
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Ok, let's switch gears. I turned 40 years old in the minivan with my husband by my side. Perfect. That's what I wanted. No black balloons. Nothing about being "Over the Hill." No sadness that it's all downhill from here. Not at all. It's time to celebrate that I've made it this far. I'm confident in who I am now. I still have things to do on earth for as long as God allows me to do them. I'm still scared to death that I will die young like my mother, but at the same time, it keeps me motivated to make those moments count. I entered this year, this decade, with no chains. I have one main outside ministry and social circle to occupy my time, something that brings me joy, something that stretches me, something that I'm passionate about, and something that I have skills to use for. I'm no longer lost. I am found. I can and I will. Of course, God's got the details laid out. I'm still focused in on the general direction at least for now. And I have glorious peace about it. I'm throw off the things that hinder me, particularly people's opinions. I am me.
And part of what Jared and I discussed these past couple of days revolved around what that looked like practically in our lives, what groups we are involved in, what does that mean, how the kids are involved, the upcoming changes with Justin moving into getting his license and a job, how the dynamics will change with which how I hang out with for Abishai's social needs, etc. I'm not afraid of those. I knew they were coming. And I think God has already prepared the way for this particular transition and I think I'm ready. I think this time I can see God's hand. Which to me means, I'm a bit closer to God. I've done some hard work coming back to God, and becoming more mature, and less like a bratty rebellious teenager and I rejoice and praise Him for that. And Jared agrees that he's seen a big change in me the last few months. I had written down some general topics we could talk about but had no pressing specific things in mind. And Jared didn't either. That kept our time and conversation lighter and sweeter.
Jared was so good at tolerating my blabber mouth. Ok, wait, back up. This is kind of funny and revealing. It's part of my daily routine. In the morning, I don't talk much. I read and respond to email and play my phone games. But I don't actually speak much to the kids or interact, right? Well, that's how I was for the car ride down to Nashville. So I told Jared to just wait until the first wave of coffee hits me, I will switch gears and start blabbing. I'll get anxious and nervous and go crazy. And boy did it happen. Poor guy. I did reign it in for him. And he was a great sport in it all. And I did make it up to him as I had promised to him. Guys and gals, wow, that's the biggest thing about this whole trip. 20 years into our marriage and I finally got what I had dreamed of. To have my man sitting beside me tolerating my goofiness as I wahoo at another guy on stage. Ok, ok, the guy onstage could be my dad's age. But I've watched couples go to concerts for 25 years and I've always been jealous. The woman stands up. The man stays seated, arms folded, tolerating it because he loves his wife. That's all I wanted. And Monday night, that's what I got. Jared didn't stand up. I didn't bother ask him why. He knew what was best for his back. We spent most of the concert/recording sitting down anyway. But there he was, watching me, fangirling, and I just hope he got a kick out of it. I'll say more when I describe the event, but something changed in my perspective that night on how I perceive the fellows and women on stage. All I know is, that for my 40th birthday, my dream had come true. My prince was beside me.
We held hands, a lot. Partially so we wouldn't get separated. He led me when we walked to and from the restaurant and to and from the line for the concert. Oh how comforting that was that I didn't have to think what street I was on! I think he's finally enjoying that little bit of PDA. Even throughout the concert we held hands or linked arms. I wanted him to know that the man on stage was not the man I loved and thought about all day every day. I didn't say "I do" to Michael W. Smith. Smitty has been a mentor, fatherly role in my life and will always have that role. But I gave my heart to Jared, and he is the leader of my home. I follow him as he follows Christ. I look up to Jared and am an awe of his heart, his obedience to Christ, his intelligence. Jared makes me swoon when he's left that little bit of gray hair on his chin the last two weeks just because I love it. I fully expect it to come off this next week. When he choose to splurge on a fancy hotel when I was looking at cheap hotels and a really expensive lunch, my heart swells. But I'm just as content when we are at home in our fixer upper with all the clutter I choose to keep and our kids are fighting and he is content to let me stay home with them and do my thing, my heart wants to burst then, too. Just as long as Jared is nearby, I am at peace and I am content. Yes, yes, I know God is there, too. After God, humans fail, so we rely on God first. But God works through people like spouses to refine us, comfort us, and show us His love. That's why divorce is one of the worst things that can happen. Jared and I just can't fathom it. We don't get it. We feel like we are past the point of no return. All the while realizing that divorce happens later on in life, too. That's why these times together are crucial. And we are the oddest couple out there. We have such weird tastes and ways of doing things. Stuff that bothers the other person all the time. And we keep doing them to pick on the other person, too! And then we joke and smile and move on. That's the best part. We'll still be arguing about these stupid little things when we're 80. Stuff like, oh, I don't know, frying stuff in butter vs. using canned cooking oil spray. Or, what's the best way to warm up water for one cup of tea, teapot or microwave? Or, 76 degrees on the thermostat or 78?
But I've always longed for these trips. And I praise God and can't stop smiling that finally my dreams are coming true.They aren't perfect. We still have moments of frustration with each other and miscommunication. But they are such bonding experiences, whether we spend little or a lot. Whether we talk about deep things or not. Just being together. We didn't have that kind of time when we were young. When we were dating long distance, going to college, and church, straight into marriage and then straight into parenthood, it's been non stop ever since. I think we've done ok knowing who we are and about each other despite all of that and I don't think we would have grown any faster. But now we are individually mature enough, to take our relationship to this new level. And since this was not only the birthday trip, but the anniversary trip as well, it's a good time to put the line in the sand and say, this next decade or 20 years, it's going to be different. It's going to more focused, more mature, more calm in our hearts, more confident, more unified, more walking hand in hand, not perfectly, but with more of an understanding of where we are. Ready to talk when we need to. Ready to finish growing up these kids, at least two of them, the last one is still got a ways to go. And in 10 years, we will be hitting a new phase again, I'm sure. I'm excited. I'm ready. Bring it on!
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But you didn't come here for my ramblings. You wanted to know about the details about the trip itself.
We got to the hotel in Nashville a few minutes before check in time so 2:50pm, at the Hilton in Green Hills. We were on the 6th floor, and Jared had picked out a corner room "with a view." Well, we did see a bit of downtown and some hills to the south, but the view was mostly just other buildings around us. That's ok. We had a gorgeous king sized bed and of course all the fanciness that a Hilton can provide. See the photos below. We took a few minutes to freshen up and charge our phones before figuring out how to get to the restaurant. Jared hadn't told me which one it was and said it was only 10 minutes of walking. Um, more like 20 and we had to walk through the nearby full size mall and city sidewalks. Blech. It could have been way hotter and steamier but still, not something I wanted to do. We needed the walk, so I'm grateful for that. Jared suggested we walk to the venue but I told him no. I don't do 1 1/2 mile walks anymore even on a cool day. And I was drenched and tired after this first walk. I would be exhausted if we tried to get to the venue and it would have taken 3x the amount of time to walk rather than drive. I was feeling light headed and anxious about everything in general as normal when I'm in a new area and I'm unsure of everything.
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| Oh, how the new phone camera comes in handy for these tight spaces! One of the fanciest hotel rooms I've every stayed in. I think the only other fancy hotel was the one in Chicago when Jared, Keturah and I rode the train to Chicago and spent the night and then rented a car the next day. That was a long adventure day when she was only a year old. Great story though we'll save for another day. |
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| That's me trying way too hard to be a professional blogger. |
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| Our view to the south towards Brentwood aka millionaires row perhaps? We drove by a ton of big, fancy properties the second day on our way to Franklin. |
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| And our view to the northeast we think. We saw downtown far off in the distance. Lipscomb University was also off in this direction. |
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| Jared asked, "Why did you take a photo of the carpet?" Well, because, it's Michael W. Smith's logo, duh! |
He took me to the Food Kitchen, a Gen Z kind of place, with all organic and foodie kind of place with very, very high priced items. Eek. It was very, very good and I made sure I ate everything. I was full for the moment, but in my meal, I had no real sustainable carbs and halfway through the concert I was hungry. Jared ordered an appetizer, which we thought was going to be pretty tame, but actually was a tad spicy: Tuna Lettuce Cups, wild caught tuna, baru nut sauce, black sesame ponzu, shaved carrot, persian cucumber, cilantro, thai basil, mint, bibb lettuce (the tuna was raw, whoops). And then he had the Grilled Chicken Avocado Wrap: organic tomato, cucumber, hummus, fresh mozzarella, lemon oregano vinaigrette, house-made pita. He said he took one bite and thought it tasted like BO, as in body odor, and then the next bite also tasted that way. He managed to finish it though. It came with a basic creamy tomato soup, which he didn't like either. I got the most expensive thing on the menu, totally by accident, but it sounded really, really good. The pan seared sea bass: sustainable sea bass, zucchini salsa verde, street corn, chimichurri, cherry tomato, and cauliflower rice.It was so delicious! And I did eat the whole thing! Wow! It was the most expensive "lunch" we've ever had. $77.50. Jared tried paying with a gift card but he hadn't activated it yet! Whoops! I was kind of glad it was smaller portion sizes because that means we didn't have to worry about leftovers. And I didn't feel overly full for the concert either. And walking to and from the restaurant, despite the heat was also a smart move keeping the digestive track and legs moving.
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| Again, I suck at the selfies and Jared has no patient. I don't have a long enough arm for these things. I need a selfie stick! The Food Kitchen where lunch cost us $77.50! |
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| Jared's avocado chicken wrap. |
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| My to die for fried sea bass on cauliflower rice. |
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| And raw tuna wraps. |
We got back to the hotel in time to finish charging our phones and again, freshen up. But I was beginning to feel worn out from all the walking. I insisted that we drive the van over the venue at this point. I knew I just wasn't going to last trying to walk the 1 1/2 miles in the heat AND the usual excitement and emotions and sitting/standing/concentration I do/have for a concert. Jared wasn't the happiest about it, but I think we were both glad when all was said and done. Traffic was not fun on the way over, but it was a short drive. We found a great parking spot near the front of an entry/exit to the campus, so it was easy to get out of once the concert was over. We got there around 5:30pm. Doors opened at 6pm. I wanted to get there slightly earlier, but I'm kind of glad we didn't. It was pretty hot. The line was much longer than I had anticipated. But in just the 30 minutes that we waited for the doors to open, the line grew twice as long. Jared was a bit annoyed because he hates crowds and doesn't like people breathing down his neck, especially in the light of Covid-19. Not sure what he has to fear since he is vaccinated, but ok, whatever. I'm pretty used to standing in line and crowds. And this is precisely why I don't bring him places. He just doesn't like this part of it. It's not his gig. He's impatient. He's claustrophobic. He's grossed out by crowds and public places and public toilets and handrails and what not. I just go about and have fun anyway. The kids and I have just gotten used to it I guess.
It was kind of annoying because the older people behind us were speculating on when the doors would open and why the line was moving or not moving and it was driving me nuts. Have a little patience. Can you think about something else please? Can you talk about something else please? I'm trying to not be anxious about those details and here they are trying to focus on them. Sigh. The crowd was mostly made up of the older generation as usual. Lots of couples, too, as usual. Wives, dragging their husbands along. I didn't recognize anyone in line, unfortunately. I wanted to save my phone battery for the concert, so I tried to stay off of social media and didn't worry about any meet ups. I was here with Jared anyway. I think next time I might try to plan a pre concert dinner or something again. I've done that in the past and some of the folks even did that this time. I miss having that crazy fan kind of talk that make others roll their eyes. But I wasn't going to subject Jared to that. That wouldn't be fair. I was already trying not to be too giddy about the normal parts of just being there. The line moved quickly once the doors were opened. They looked at our tickets but didn't scan them, which helped dramatically. No one really rushed too hard for seats, and we could have chosen ones closer. In fact, I think we really should have. But we did have a very nice full view of everything, too. And in just an hour's time, I realized we had the best place to hear the perfect sound mix, the sweet spot because wow oh wow, but we'll get to that in a minute.
The venue was a basic old basketball arena of an old college. I mean, I don't know how old Lipscomb University is, but the building is all concrete, and there are places where things could be refreshed with some paint. I'm not so sure why this venue was picked. But probably availability and money. And with the right camera angles, no one but us will know the difference. But that's what makes being part of this so interesting. Seeing what goes on behind the scenes in the making of a live album and show/DVD is what is so fascinating to me and part of the experience for me. I watched the camera men and women and rigging and tech guys and gals just as much as I watched the people on stage. I was wondering how much raw footage they were getting and how are they going to narrow it down and splice it all together. Before the concert began, I was wondering if someone was going to come out on stage and tell us the rules like silence your phones and don't scream, "We love you Michael." And "there won't be any stories tonight, remember this is being recorded." But no one said anything. Everybody seemed to know and was used to these things being recorded. It was actually kind of odd. I'm so used to Michael telling stories between songs and he had to restrain himself so much. He did lean over once or twice and said, "How's everybody doing?" And obviously, that's going to be cut out in the editing process. It was almost too quiet between songs. And much shorter.
Two gentlemen did come out. First, Matt Smallbone, COUSIN to the For King and Country guys, Luke and Joel Smallbone. Ok, ok, when I posted my photos to the Friends Online group, someone had to correct me because I said he was a brother. Well, Matt saw it and said hi to me. Yes! Matt Smallbone actually said hi! I felt a little embarrassed, lol! I do follow him on Instagram and knew he was a pastor in Nashville and knew he was related to the other guys, ok. And I did NOT tag him on the photo on purpose. What is he doing in the Friends Online group anyway? Lol. Anyway, he just wanted to remind us to ignore all the production of the cameras and crew (too late for me) and just worship. He knew that that's all that Smitty wanted us to do. He wanted to lead us in worship. And I think he prayed over the evening. And then Smitty's long time pastor came out as well saying similar things. Well, I started to cringe a little bit because he started talking about Michael's Mom passing away two days before and how she was reunited with her husband and they were with the heavenly host looking down on us that night ready to worship with us, etc. etc. and after Jared and I had had a discussion about angels and demons with another couple on Saturday, I wasn't so sure that this pastor's view of all of that was theologically lining up with what Jared had said. And, it sounded a bit more pentecostal or southern baptist or something we aren't used to up north and I didn't want Jared to be creeped out by this old time preacher going all crazy like stirring up the congregation. If it had been just me, I would have been fine and enjoyed the change of pace from our pretty quiet Christian church style. Thankfully, it didn't last long and the concert/recording was about to start.
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| Matt Smallbone aka Joel and Luke's COUSIN, not their brother, reminding us to just worship and that is all the Michael expects of us. Ignore the production team. Just worship. And yes, this the Matt Smallbone that commented on this very photo when I posted it on the Friends Online Facebook page and someone corrected me about how he is their cousin and not their brother. I did NOT tag him on purpose. But somehow he saw it. He's just an ordinary inner city pastor in Nashville, TN. I do follow him on Intsagram, though. |
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| Tech people ready to go. Could be Benaiah down there. |
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| Symphony and Jim Daneker at the ready. |
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| What are those for? Oh, I found out that they put DSLR type cameras at waist level and then have monitors/screens attached to them more at eye level so that they can get a different angle from down below going up without having to lean down. Cool! |
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| Last minute polishing of floors. This never happens before a regular concert but when you are getting raw footage from a video to be broadcast, there can't be a spec of dust. |
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| Spirkee! Some wanted to argue with me, but I also saw him escort Michael's wife Debbie backstage. He was talking into his radio at the time of this pic. He looks a lot like Jingle John of Silly Safaris to me, which means nothing to the Friends Online community. His wife later confirmed that it was him when I posted it. I met him years ago when we had a pre concert dinner and FO was much smaller. |
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| Photo of the regular broadcast type camera on the right stage focused on the left side of the stage. |
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| Just one of three big booms with cameras ready to go flying around. |
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| Middle broadcast camera. I used to work one just like this when I was in college. I was usually put in the middle as well. |
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| Our seats and view. We had plenty of time to move up and I kind of wish we had. But it was a pretty small arena so we didn't feel that far away either. |
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| Wowzers, the line grew twice as long as we stood in it for just 30 minutes before doors opened at 6pm. |
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| We finally made it to the end of the line with 30 minutes before doors opened. I was hoping that someone would recognize me or I would recognize them, but Jared walked a bit too fast. He was always not fond of people crowding each other and breathing down his neck. It was slightly too warm, too. But we managed. |
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| Jim Danaker showing off the stage during rehearsals. |
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| Ready to go Friends Online and this time I don't have to be jealous! I actually get to be part of this! Some had to fly on airplanes to be here! Crazy money spenders! |
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In the words of Paul Smith (Michael W. Smith's Dad): HOLD THE PHONE! HOLD THE PHONE!
Jared was talking with some friends of ours on Sunday morning July 18th, 6 days after this event, and I know he usually starts to get a little more animated and smiley around people these days than he used to 10 years ago, HOWEVER, when he started describing how he counted that the orchestra was almost 40 instruments and how the drumline (see below) was in his words, "FANTASTIC," I could see his eyes light up. You see, you can never truly tell with Jared what he's truly thinking. He's pretty good at hiding his emotions. He's now better at expressing himself with me at least, and I'm better at reading him, and I'll ask him more often, too. But I did look at him at all during the event. I knew he was concentrating on sitting upright so his back didn't hurt as much. I know he probably wasn't enjoying being in the crowd and he wasn't happy about the driving in and standing in line and all that. But I didn't know how much he was paying attention and actually enjoying it once everyone was settled. He hasn't said anything much about if he liked seeing me enjoy the event or not. I was hoping it would make him smile to see me smile. But to hear him describe to others, bits and pieces of the event that he was paying attention to and really truly getting into, that just melts my heart into a puddle on the floor. Again, I'm not sure he would understand or enjoy a full on pop concert/show of all Smitty songs, but for one night, we got to experience something together. And I rejoice that we DO enjoy music together. We don't enjoy the exact same genre of music, but we understand the lingo and the tech. We know instruments and how to read music. We both can play. He prefers more rappish kind of stuff and I like more pop and sentimental KLove or whatever. We are both not on the extreme ends though, thank goodness. Even on our first date we listened to a CCM artist named Jennifer Knapp that we both enjoyed. And for the record, he DID have a Michael W. Smith album in his bedroom BEFORE I met him, ok? He did work at Christian bookstore after all. And on our second date, he bought me a DC Talk album. So what can I say, music is in our blood. And Benaiah is right there with us. And the others could be, too. And music ties us to the previous generations. There are no sports people in previous generations and I sincerely doubt there will be in the immediate future. Abishai could go either way though. So, it made my day today, nearly a week later, to hear Jared speak so fondly of our evening together. Memories made.
Really. What can I say? From the moment of the introduction, my eyes swelled with tears. Music does move, but not that instantaneously, especially music I haven't heard before. I have heard these songs before, but these versions, were phenomenal. They were a dream come true for Michael. What he envisioned and shared with us just a couple of months ago, came to life! A live orchestra brings such depth, such richness, such power and beauty to any song that you just can't capture from a keyboard trying to mimic those same sounds. I don't have the best trained ear, but I do have just a little bit of discernment. I was blown away. I closed my eyes and just took it all in. I shed tears. And I realized later when the whole thing was over, that I was cheering on "my boys" almost like I was their mom or their best friend. What they had talked about and envisioned had come true. What I wanted to hear or what I came to see didn't matter. What they wanted to create and share with the world did. They wanted to take the album that was so pivotal, so vital to so many hurt and wounded and confused people on 9/11/01 and breathe new life into it for a new set of circumstances, a new crisis, a new set of realities that we live in today. The new chaos and confusion. The songs, the words are the same. The truths in the songs are the same. That's because God's absolute Truth does not change. But the hope of this renewed album is for it to reach new ears, a new generation and carry God's truth even further. And I believe it will. It's gorgeous. And I have to wait two months before I can hear it again. That's like an eternity.
Take a step back in time with me. I wasn't happy when this album was released on 9/11/01. It was called "Worship." I pretty much ignored it. I thought the songs were too old already and out of rotation. I thought Michael W. Smith was just joining on the band wagon of all the other artists doing worship artist. I only saw him as a pop artist. I wanted more pop music. I didn't really pay attention to the release date and put the two and two together. I was watching the TV like everybody else and worried about Jared at the City County Building, etc. We had been married for less than two months. But then everybody started raving about this album. Then a new wave of Michael W. Smith fans joined the ranks. I rolled my eyes and tried to play nice. But yes, in my mind, I separated the two groups: The groupies before Worship and the groupies after Worship and only the groupies before Worship were the real fans who really knew what Michael was really about, pop music. And then I moved on because I had to finish school, we had started our family, etc. etc. I did like some of the songs on the album, but some of them were just older and not my jam. Some of them still aren't my jam. I can belt them out because they are familiar but that's it. Of all the (almost 32) albums Michael has released, I play the 4 Worship albums the least.
Therefore, I went to this concert/event, for the other parts of the experience, not for the emotional connections with the songs. But God had something very different in mind. I did end up singing along the whole time, only because I had played the album over and over at home to become familiar with it them again. I'm not sure I really connected with the lyrics though. "Healing Rain" of course was a significant one and always will be because of my mom and myself and our health. No, it was more just the taking in of the music itself. And holding on to Jared's arm or hand. The seats were normal plastic fold down stadium seats and pretty uncomfortable. Jared didn't complain but he didn't much either. I tried telling him he can get up and walk if he needed to. I would totally understand. We purposefully had sat at the end of a row and close to the top of a section for that reason. But he didn't budge. I got up to use the restroom before we started. I only brought a small water bottle so I didn't get to drink much. It's a good thing I had taken a sumatriptan before we went in because I would have had a raging dehydration headache from lack of water. I was also pretty hungry. I looked around for some snacks or water to buy, but there was none. Pretty weird. I'm so used to having concessions at venue of some kind. Actually, no one checked my purse either. A security person eyeballed my purse but didn't ask me to open it when we were standing in line. There was a single merchandise table with all the worship albums, Michael's new book about his dad and the usual suspects for t-shirts and overpriced hoodies. Uh, nope. I have all of it and the rest are old stuff. Nope. I'm good.
Hm, I'm trying to think back to the individual songs. I would have to go through one again to give you details on them. There are some that made me tear up and some that I just don't care about. Let's see. It was really neat to hear Matt Redman sing on the song he wrote, "Heart of Worship." Jared seemed to be impressed that he was going to be guest appearing. Amy Grant came out for Agnus Dei of course. After the fantastic drum line for "Awesome God," the last guest appearance was Tauren Wells. He's of what I call the "new generation" of CCM artists. Not my styles of singing. Not my style of worship. Not my style of clothes. Gen Z. Chic. The tight pants. The hat. The frosted blonde hair. Not quite. Yeah. It was ok. He sang on, "More Love, More Power," which is a song we sang a lot at Manchester Christian Church actually in the late 1990's so I know it very well. But it was also the very last song of the evening and kind of a foot note and out of place chronologically in the original line up of the album. Kind of like they accidentally skipped it or something. But in the magic editing room, they can splice it in wherever they want to, just as long as they have the raw footage. It just felt odd and out of place. Not the right ending for a concert. Now I can't remember if the snippets of Surrounded and Waymaker were before or after More Love, More Power. It was also hard to tell if they were Smitty doing his "I'm going to change the set list last minute" or planned in advance as bonuses on the album. But the musicians and singers played along anyways. To me, it seemed to let Michael blow off some extra steam, perhaps some grief from losing his mom, sharing a moment with the audience just like he does at all his concerts, playing off the cuff and having fun. He probably needed it. He later said on Instagram about 5 days later, that his recording was in his top 5 either recordings or concerts or moments or whatever. I know he loves to say, "I'll remember this!" to just about every event he does, but he probably will remember this evening because it was a full production with the symphony and tied to his mom's passing. I hope he does.
One of my absolute favorite moments of the night was when we all thought it was over and then Michael pointed to the back of the auditorium. Out comes a marching band drum line! Now, if anything captures Jared's attention at this point, it would be a marching band drum line. Jared appreciates a good orchestra, too. And music tech, don't get me wrong. Thankfully, he and I do at least enjoy and appreciate music together. I praise God he's not into sports! He's just not into going places that are crowded. So, these "kids" were probably either high school or part of the college. It was hard to tell but they looked to be about Benaiah's age. I had no idea what they were up to or what song they were leading into. But I whipped out my phone as fast as I could. I was definitely going to video this one! We thought the recording was done anyways, and this was just a fun bonus for us, the audience. I had only taken a few snippets overall (like 3!) and had plenty of battery, so I had held to my promise of being in the moment until then. I took 2 videos of this thing, for a total of 4 minutes. It is a little shaky only because I like to sway to music, but it's worth the watch. But finally, Smitty was off the bench and pointing to the audience, which was on it's feet. And when he sat down to play the first few bars of the song, oh then we knew. We ALL knew what song it was and we ALL sang it as loud as we could (ooooo, I'm getting goosebumps as I type this 5 days later). One of the simplest yet greatest Christian anthems written, "Our God is an Awesome God." It was phenomenal. Just as simple chorus by a simple, humble Christian worship leader from the '80's, Rich Mullins, who was gone from this earth way too soon (car accident in the early '90's). This song does have some wonderful verses, but the chorus, been done right, can be built up musically to be so incredible. And Smitty, and his crew, oh man, they know how to do it right, each and every time they do it in concert, or on an album. Oh man. It was a childhood staple of mine, one of the first praise songs I learned that carried over from one church to another and hasn't stopped. Ok, it has. Indian Creek doesn't sing it now. But I can belt it out anytime. And I know my mom and even my dad could. And Jared liked Rich Mullins and knew the song well, too. It was just wonderful! We should have ended the night there! But then the whole Tauren Wells thing with a super quiet song that didn't fit after a super powerful song. I hope that it changes for the album and DVD. Murph.
But that's when I realized I had been pumping my fists for my "boys." Everybody won that night. Everybody did so well. The crowd knew how to be respectful. The tech crew were doing their jobs. The band members and symphony were right on cue. Michael was doing his upmost to restrain himself. Wow. What a night. I was on cloud 9. My man was right beside me. And we were back at the hotel super early as in 9pm and had plenty of time to ourselves still. I was definitely grateful for that, too. We were celebrating my birthday and our anniversary, too, if you know what I mean. Ahem.
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| Michael's daughters read scripture to start the album 20 years ago, but they were just young girls at the time. Now, they did again, but as adults. How precious. Emily on the left and Anna on the right. |
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| Matt Redman, guest appearing, singing his song that he wrote, "The Heart of Worship." Jared was actually impressed that he was guest singing it. |
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| Gorgeous stage! I can't wait to see the final product on DVD! 10 background vocalists. 40 piece orchestra. Several regular band members. Incredible! |
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| A zoomed in view and different lighting. |
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| Amy Grant singing Agnus Dei |
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| Finally up on our feet to worship, and then, the awesome drumline came in for "Awesome God." And that's about all I have for photos because it was hard to see the drumline. Enjoy the videos instead. |
Traffic wasn't too terrible getting out of the parking and around the few blocks to the hotel. Jared might tell you otherwise though. I've had worse times trying to get home from a concert. When we got back to the hotel, we decided to go up to the pool deck on the 10th floor just to see what we could see. And well, there was nothing to see. It was a clear night, but the view was not much. A tiny bit of downtown Nashville and some hills to the south. The pool was tiny. No one was up there. All very quiet. So we didn't stay long. Jared tried to kiss me in a weird way because he said I would be unhappy if he didn't. Ok fine. Then we back to our room. He presented me with a scrumptious bottle of white wine he bought, vintage 1981, my birthday. And oh wow, I've had wine. This was the good stuff. Wow! This was the stuff where you can drink a whole glass and NOT get a hangover the next morning. Wow! And then, instead of something shiny, he throws on the bed, a white box that when shaken, sounds like........a child's toy.......you guessed it.......LEGO! Excuse me?! I am 40 years old now! I'm a sophisticated woman here! I'm drinking really old wine in a really fancy hotel and YOU brought LEGO with you?! Can I smack you now? Good grief! As you can see in the photos below, it is a Bride BrickHeadz. It comes with all kinds of extra pieces so you can customize it! Jared actually put it together because I was very hungry. I sorted the pieces out for him though. It didn't take that long to put together either. And the geniuses at Lego constructed the instructions in such a way that they made one color represent the hair and YOU had to do the figuring if you wanted it a different color. Same with the skin tone. Same the environment by not printing three sets of instruction! But what a goofy guy, eh? LEGO. In a fancy hotel room. Ok. It's better than what I brought into the hotel room. Um. I had to hide it as I brought it in. I had packed some snacks in my usual lunchbox of choice, the Disney Princess one. And I carried it loose. So I had to turn it around and hide it against my body as we stealthily went in the back way to the elevators that way. What?! I don't think twice about bringing it on park days or play dates. Other moms just think I'm being cost effective by borrowing my kids' old lunch box. But when you are in an expensive Hilton and the clientele is quite different and you just turned 40, you start to rethink your choices. Whoops. But our choices just means that we still have kids at home and we don't focus on outward appearances. We still want to have fun and remind ourselves that no, we aren't kids, but we still have our kids and no, we didn't bring these things on purpose to remind us of them, but, that's our stage of life, right? And we love it! We absolutely love this stage. I don't know if want to grow out of this stage ever. I don't. I'm tired, but not tired enough to wish it away forever. Date night/weekends are fun, but let's do more with our babies, too. And we did plan some of that the next day. But first, we sleep.
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| My birthday gift from Jared. Because LEGO. And a vintage 1981 bottle of white wine that was so smooth tasting. Wow. |
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| She was much happier here for the ride home. Jared doesn't want to take her to the office and he wants me to put her somewhere I can see her. Ok. I'm not sure at all where she should go. But she's pretty lonely, too. Are you sure she wouldn't enjoy looking at all your LEGO race cars at work? |
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Ah, wasn't that one of the best night's sleep you've had in a long time? Ok, I still woke up at whatever time because I take a water pill and I have restless legs. But I think we woke up at 7:30ish local time. We did our normal snoozing and cuddling, then checked email, then rolled out of bed. Same as home except we didn't have Abishai running up and down the hallway giving us minute by minute updates as to what time it was. We kind of missed that. We know what the magazines say, get up before your kids do and/or do your devotions before your kids wake up. Nah, it's more fun to have Abishai wake us up and jump in and out of our bed 100x and talk 100 mph about his plans for the day. Some day, he won't do that anymore, so we are soaking in every single minute of it that we can. We got up and went to breakfast about 8. Well, breakfast looked wonderful. It was continental style just like any other hotel we usually stay in. However, it was NOT complimentary. Uh, whoops. We ended up paying $16 per person. Yeah, you bet we filled up as much we could and skipped lunch. Jared ate biscuits and gravy for the first time in years. I ate a ton of bacon because I didn't know what was in the sausage and I can't do many eggs. I saved my chex for a snack for later. I also ate some fruit. They did serve real Starbucks coffee, but we didn't see any tea. Dude. Where's the tea? Anyway, I did drink a bit of coffee and should of stopped there. But I didn't. The caffeine gets to me first thing in the morning and I get all jittery and it's not good. I was awake and started talking too much though. I'm not sure Jared like that as he was trying to drive through Nashville traffic, lol.
After breakfast, we went back upstairs to pack and hang out a bit. I finally convinced Jared to take me 30 minutes due south to Franklin, TN to visit where the "Healing Rain" music video was shot as well to stop by and get some gluten free doughnuts and special coffee at a set of shops called The Factory. But nothing opened until 10am. Well, he wanted to stop at a liquor store just to check on price differences between TN and IN and to see if TN had anything that IN didn't and that opened at 9, so he walked over there and I used that time to charge my phone and do my normal routine of checking email and playing my video games. It was the perfect amount of time, too. I was able to use the restroom a few more times (again, that water pill! and caffeinated drinks!) And then we packed up everything, hid my Disney Princess lunchbbox in my backpack so I wouldn't be embarrassed, and turned in our room key. Well, we should turned the room key in AFTER we had gone through parking garage exit, same as we should have gotten the room key BEFORE we went into the garage. But because we didn't, we had to pay for overnight parking. Sigh. Oh well. We had already overpaid for dinner, and for breakfast, and for the hotel in general, why not for parking, too? It's all part of the adventure, right? I mean, we are 40 and 42 and are JUST figuring out how to travel on our own. Kind of ridiculous. But we also choose to rely on his parents for too long, too. But we have accepted it and are cautiously spreading our wings now. Better late than never.
And off we went, down US-31, yes, really, US-31, like the one we have at home that goes through Greenwood, only this one goes through what looked like Millionaire's row aka Cool Springs/Brentwood. And then all of a sudden it hit me. The fence lines looked just the ones from Michael's and Amy's farms, as well as Luke Smallbone's farms! Could it be? Well, maybe, or they could be anywhere on these foothills, but still. I know "The Farm" isn't that farm from Michael's actual suburban home. Cool! The Friends Online peeps were just down here for a special weekend in the heat and humidity enjoying special balloon rides and concerts and who knows what for $500 for a weekend at The Farm. See, I don't go to those things because, nope, $500 per person is not in my budget. Ok, We DID spend a lot for this "weekend" away, but it was my birthday/our anniversary and we were on our own schedule. That's a lot different. Anyway, after we got out of the main city, it was pretty smooth sailing. Haha! Sailing! Kind of funny because we actually hit some downpours on our way to Franklin! I didn't panic because I was watching the weather quickly and I knew it was just a quickly passing storm and it was going to be back to drizzle and then nothing for our quick walk around town.
Well, we are on our way to the site where Michael W. Smith and crew shot the "Healing Rain" music video and it's raining. Very appropriate. But look at these fences. They seem kind of familiar. They remind me of the fences that are on Michael's farm. Could it be? 
I have no idea if it's Michael's actual farm, or Amy's or Luke Smallbone's, but they are all probably in this area. I know it's not a long drive for any of them. But this area has a lot of land and big expensive houses, too. Lots of country music stars I'm sure.
However, it is kind of ironic because I wanted to go to Franklin because of the "Healing Rain" music video and in that video they DID make it RAIN on purpose. So, that was pretty cool. Jared didn't think so. He was quite annoyed because he only had one pair of toe shoes with him and he didn't want his socks and shoes to be soaked for the whole ride home. Whoops. Sorry. I guess I could have done my walk by myself. I did make the walk as quick as I could. While he was gone to the liquor store, I watched the "Healing Rain" video and took some screenshots of the various street scenes so I could get as many photos that matched as I could. I'm so glad that I did! They came in very handy! I had also asked a few days beforehand if anyone remembered which intersection they has used. They had shot the video in the middle off the night, like between midnight and 4am, between 3rd and 4th streets, and it was like in March or April, and it was FREEZING. You can see the background actors' breathe in the video. And Michael's out there in a t-shirt. I think they did the rain scene in one take, maybe up to 3 takes if I remember correctly, and only at the very end. I also knew the name of the bar that was used, Gray's. So here I am, walking down the street on Tuesday the 13th, taking random photos of shops and intersections, and thankfully, hardly anyone is around. The streets weren't as dead some other Midwestern towns I've been in lately, but still, I felt a little bit silly. I didn't do any fancy angles, but I got what I could for my own scrapbooking purposes. The photos are probably a little shaky and what not. Oh well, I did it for me. I went, I saw, I conquered. End of story. Jared and I compromised as usual. He drove me. I did my thing. And I didn't fuss when it wasn't perfect. I tried not to linger too much. I could have lingered so much longer if it was just me.
I don't know if I got the exact sign but I think I got close at least. What do you think? 
This is a screenshot from the "Healing Rain" music video.
Kind of tricky figuring out which intersection they used. I tried to think about the crosswalk mostly. I'm not sure I was on the right side of the street or not and of course with selfies, everything is backwards anyways and I was rushing. So, I just snapped away hoping to figure it out later. I took this one facing going east I believe out of town which is what I envisioned the video angle was.
I think I took this pic because of the white brick. I didn't take screenshots off the particular scenes but a couple of them had a girl leaning on white brick with her arm out like she was drug addict. 
I zoomed in on this screen shot and tried to find the name of this shop on my current map app and I don't think it exists anymore. so I didn't bother trying to find it while walking around. We were walking too quickly.
Then walking back to the car I saw this part of the intersection. Hm, was the video taken this way? I'm not sure.
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| Someone had told me this was the bar that was used in the music video. It was open, but again, Jared was impatient and we didn't want to linger. I didn't take any screenshots of the bar to compare it to. |
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| I love how small towns decorate their lamposts and care of the little thigns like flags. They take pride in their little cities. |
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| Lol. Their historical town hall or whatever this is reminded me of the clock tower in Back to the Future which we just watched with the kids. So I took this photo for them. I almost convinced Abishai that it was the same clock tower in the movie! |
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| Not the best because again, I suck at selfies, but at least we got the roundabout in Franklin and the monument to whatever battle happened here in the background. We tried. |
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| There it is! I have a nice postcard of this monument from my last trip down here 16 yrs ago and that's enough for me. |
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| Our selfie game needs help. This theater isn't in the music video I don't think. |
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| Other screen shots I took from the music video. Like I said. Only Michael W. Smith had on a t-shirt. It was shot in March I think. So freezing that night. They blocked off 3rd-5th streets I think. They had a big boom that sprayed water just in that intersection. I remember when the music video was shot and they were talking about. I think they even had trouble with the rain machine freezing up, lol. Great video though. |
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| Healing Rain for the drug addict, the alcoholic, the homeless and so many more. |
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| I didn't quite capture her and him in this screen shot but one of Michael's daughters, I believe Anna, and his son, Tyler, are in this opening walking scene. |
We did actually walk around a whole block just to give our legs a good stretch and workout before we got back into the van for the long ride home. Franklin, TN does have some great Civil War history just like most towns around here, but I didn't take the time to do any reading of plaques. I can look it later if I feel like it. After our short jaunt, we got back in the van and drove up the street about a mile to The Factory. The Factory I think was really a real factory at some point way back when but then was refurbished into all these cool shops. There are photography studios and pottery studios, eateries, coffee shops, pastry shops, vintage shops, I think maybe some professionals like lawyers, just all kinds of fun spaces to rent. I did visit here in 2005 when Sheryl and I were down here to be part of The Second Chance film on my friend Sherry's recommendation. So, it wasn't my first time. But that's one reason I wanted to go again. The other reason was that in my searching for hotels, I had come across a bakery called The Five Daughters' Bakery which sells vegan, paleo, and gluten free doughnuts. They have a couple of storefronts, and one of them is in The Factory. Yes! Perfect! And, I also knew that a certain coffee shop has one of their locations in The Factory, Honest Coffee Roasters, because some vloggers I used to watch would sometimes visit this particular location when they were in Nashville. They actually live near Huntsville, Alabama, where the original location is. And one of their vlogs, they had mentioned the gluten free/paleo doughnuts, but I had forgotten the name of the bakery. That vlog was put out maybe 2 or 2 1/2 years ago. So that was another reason why I knew it was all connected. Again, Jared was gracious enough to drive me there and let me get my doughnuts, yes, plural, because I won't be down here probably ever, so I got 2 doughnuts, and my coffee. The doughnuts were the BEST gluten free doughnuts on the planet! Like I couldn't even pick them up! They were so moist, melt in your mouth, probably made with almond flour and lots of eggs, oh my word, best EVER! The coffee? Well, just your standard coffee shop iced coffee with mocha and almond/coconut milk that costs $5. Nothing to write home about. But I accidentally stole a gift card thinking it was a business card. Whoops! It was activated though! They did have an awesome display of how coffee beans are roasted and were currently roasting beans, so I will give them kudos for that!
Honest Coffee Roasters had a few things sitting out like stickers for your laptop or water bottle so I picked those up and this. Well, I thought it was a business card. Turns out, it's a gift card! But if I didn't activate it, I'm ok, right? 
Slightly warm now and melty, but here are my two doughnuts from the Five Daughters' Bakery. Oh my heavens! To die for! Berry crunch and chocolate frosted. Fall apart and you can't even pick them up. So fluffy and gooey. So perfect and worth the trip! 
The Factory, Franklin, TN. Once a real operating factory. Now home to a bunch of fun and practicable and professional shops. Totally Gen Z/Millennial
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| I came, I saw, I conqured. |
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| Roasting coffee beans. |
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| Made it to Honest Coffee Roaster, Franklin, TN |
Actually, not our final stop, but our FIRST stop at The Factory was a touristy shop that I had picked out when I was looking things up online. I wanted to try to find a t-shirt with Franklin, TN on it to count as my souvenir and buy it using the money Aaron and Shauna bought me. The shops on Main St. looked expensive and not very promising. But this particular shop in The Factory looked perfect and it was. It was called, "Times Past & Present" and was run by an older lady who used yellow receipt papers and a calculator rather than fancy technology, God bless her. The t-shirt was $25, so it was a splurge. Pretty soft material, a unisex large, so it's very long, but I guess I'm that wide now, so whatever. But it says, "Life is better in Franklin, Tennessee. Finest Folks In The South. Est. 1799." With a little silhoette of a horse below that. Simple white lettering. So yes, I've become that mom that wears t-shirts and jeans. I'll wear nice shirts if I can bigger sized ones but I haven't been shopping lately. I'm still hopeful I will reduce my size someday and wear what I have bought and love, but for now, I'm just buying some things as a stop gap measure. So far, no one has made any comments about my t-shirt. Boo. They probably just see the Franklin and assume that it's Franklin, IN. That's why it's somewhat interesting to me. Franklin, IN is 30 minutes south of southern Indianapolis. And it's a bit busier than Franklin, TN because it's a college town, but the Main St. and downtown has little shops and a square and all that. So to me, the t-shirt, the towns, remind me of two very similar places, small town America, that still exists, and it makes me smile. Also at that store, Jared bought a card for his BFF Jim. Yes, seriously, you can laugh. 1) Jared bought a card. Jared is notorious for NOT buying me cards, so why would he buy a card for his BFF Jim? and 2) Jared a forethought to buying said card several days ahead of his trip. Jared had forethought? Wow. Jared really is growing up! I'll return to this story in a minute.
Cute shop for new and vintage clothing! Pretty large shop, too. Sweet lady. Jared bought the card for Jim here. 
My t-shirt/birthday gift from Aaron and Shauna. 
Leah would get a kick out of this one. 
Or wherever you live. 
Should have bought this one for Aaron. 
Well, I like grits, lol.
Alright, so after making our purchases in this vintage and new items very cute store, and then purchasing my food items, we were finally on our way to driving up through Cool Springs and driving onto I-65, just a quick 10 minutes from The Factory. And then it was I-65 all the way home, baby, easy peasy lemon squeezy, right? Well, yes, it was. We took I-65 back into Nashville, and
then went west to go around downtown and over a different bridge and
then reconnected with I-65 to take all the way home. Except, we made a
very special stop in Elizabethtown, KY to leave a very special note of
encouragement on the desk of a special person that he will receive when
he gets back from vacation next week. Ssshhhh, don't tell him yet. It
was an easy 1 mile off and then back on the highway jaunt. I'm so proud
of Jared for thinking of his friend this way. This is the kind of
maturity I have seen in Jared the last 10 years or so that I just knew
he would grow into someday after he grew out of the brooding teen and
young adult he was. And thanks to some wonderful older men and mentors
in his life, he has done just that. I feel like sometimes I've done just
the opposite and haven't matured, but I've changed in different ways.
So, of course I said yes to this detour. What fun! We also talked about
stopping at the Corvette Museum, but we didn't because we didn't have
enough time and didn't have enough funds. We didn't realize that the
pretty ordinary continental breakfast that morning was NOT included in
the price of the very pricey hotel. So, basically, we "ate our Corvette
Museum money for breakfast." When I looked up their website, it looks
like a very well done fantastic museum with a good 2-3 hrs of exhibits
to explore and I know all 3 of the boys would just go bananas in there. I
would enjoy it, too. Keturah, well, this is Keturah: She would walk in,
fold her arms, and say, "Hmph, who cares, it's just a bunch of fancy
cars." If we took her to the Airforce museum in Ohio she would say,
"Hmph, who cares, it's just a bunch of big old airplanes." If we took
her to the famous Mammoth Caves near the Corvette Museum she would say,
"Hmph, it's just a bunch of rocks." But that's a brooding teenage girl
for you. Lol. But Jared and I did talk about and he's warming up to the
idea of doing more of these trips on our own now. We relied so much on
our vacations with extended family that we never figured out how to
vacation and have fun on our own. We've watched his brother and sister
in law do it, but we are just now figuring out how to do it on a budget,
with or without Benaiah. I told Jared, I will go almost literally
anywhere you want to go. Probably not to a Football Hall of Fame, but if
it's a space museum or car museum or science, let's go! I love that
just as much as a history museum or cultural thing. So, we'll see.
Little by little. We might attempt some more traveling on these shorter
one tank getaways.
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| All of a sudden Jared goes, "Woah! Look at those! They look like aliens!" Wow, they do! Strange stoplights indeed! |
Part of our different route driving out of Nashville I think, or was this Louisville. Maybe it was Louisville. Jared doesn't like all the twists and turns that I-65 makes in downtown Louisville so he took the bypass. There's several bridges over the Ohio River.
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| Ohio River. Madison, Indiana is way upstream from here. |
Ah, New Albany, Indiana. I've heard of that town before I think. Surely I have. I'm still learning all the counties and cities. IAHE people keep saying these names expecting me to know them and I'm like, "Hey, I'm not a native Hoosier here! I didn't learn all the counties of Indiana in grade school. I'm not sure I remember all the ones of NH either." Ok, now I'll try to remember New Albany is down south here. But I'm not going to guarantee that I will.
We stopped at a funny gas station on the way home that sold fireworks, alcohol, was a deli, had a huge Indian statue, and was called Sad Sam with the picture of a sad clown. It was redneck for sure. Jared bought some chips but thought they were stale and had dust on the outside of the bag. Hilarious! When we got home, no one ran out to see us. Abishai was out back on the swings with Grandma. He did ask Daddy to swing him. And we both got some hugs. The teenagers didn't care. They were hiding out in their rooms of course. It was after 7pm already, so I made steady work of putting things away and prepping my mind and desk for tomorrow's work. I had some paperwork to take care of in the morning for IAHE and for medical bills. I didn't feel too exhausted or sore or mad, so that's a blessing, a big one. Usually I feel miserable and moody. It was the perfect amount of time away. I was pleased that the house was in good shape when I got home and I could start tomorrow off on the right foot.
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| Why would you buy fireworks from here? And deli meat? And gas? |
 |
| Um,
isn't CRT a thing now? Racism? And other stuff? And we still have this
thing here? Oh, we are in the south in redneck country. Got it. |
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| Crazy stuff! |
Proof that we stopped at Jim's business in Elizabethtown, KY.
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| So, where are we again? Franklin, TN? Franklin, IN? You decide! Lol! |
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| The first thing out of Abishai's mouth when we got home, "Daddy, swing me!" Awwww!!! |
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| Keturah had finished cleaning up her room and Socks had found a new bed. It didn't last long though. It's not wide enough. |
 |
| Fair enough. |
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And don't worry, I thanked Jared multiple times throughout the two days and I made sure I did what I could to "make it up to him" then and later. This trip was such a HUGE deal in our marriage. HUGE. A DREAM come true. I mean, I didn't quite have this exact dream, but just some of the elements, from holding hands, to giggling together, to sitting at a concert, to him picking a restaurant and a hotel, to having decent conversations, to compromising, to ending the trip with a smile, to not worrying so hard about money and mistakes, to just plain having goofy moments that every other couple seems to have but we are way too studious and serious to ever have. I just can't stop smiling. I had no idea what our 20th anniversary or my 40th birthday would look like. I held onto any dreams for those very, very loosely. But then God landed this opportunity in my lap about 6 weeks ago and it was one of those moments where I didn't hesitate. I didn't care who was going with me or how I was going to get there but I clicked on the "buy 2 tickets" button at lightning speed. It was a no brainer for me. And then I didn't know for sure it was going to be Jared until he said yes when he woke up from his back surgery on June 14th. Which, was so amazing because we had been fighting right up until they wheeled him away to the operating room. The first thing he did when I walked back into the room when he was somewhat awake was reach for my hand. He needed me. It didn't matter that we had fought. He wanted me. And then when he was fully awake and we were just talking, I guess I had asked him about the concert again. I didn't mean to persuade him while he was under the influence of drugs, but he was being tender, and he said yes, ever so tenderly. I was so happy. I am so happy. I am so grateful. I am so blessed.
Fifty percent of marriages end in divorce. And while that still can happen to anyone at anytime including us, I have faith and hope that it won't. It just won't. We won't let it happen. I knew when I married him that he wasn't perfect. I knew we still had a lot of growing up and maturing to do. He was very rough around the ages. I was very naive. Even at 30 years old, wow, we still had to grow up a lot. But now, in our 40's. Now, we've hit a sweet spot. No, we aren't finished growing. But we've grown up just enough, that we can look back and say, ah, we've learned some things. We can share what we've learned with some of those youngin's over there. And then we can continue to look up to those older couples and say, "Teach us more. Guide us more. What's it like where you are?" Right here. Middle aged. It's not a bad age. It's all downhill from here. Not at all. I've had my midlife crisis. I'm done. I'm ready to move on. I won't speak for Jared. Maybe he'll have his own. Maybe he got through his better than I. I don't know. But today, this month, as we celebrate these two milestones, we are at the peak of our life mountain. We know we'll have many more valleys to go through. We anticipate that. We prepare for that while we are here at the top. But for today, this moment, we celebrate, that God has brought us here, through all the storms, so many hurricanes. So much life already lived. So much life we've already survived through faith and hope and grace, with so much promise of another 20, 30, 40 years together.
God knew exactly what we both needed in these two days together. He planned all of it. I was obedient to His promptings and stayed calm and didn't micromanage. Jared stepped out of his comfort zone as well. It truly was the best birthday and the best anniversary EVER. Amen.
The End
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