Monday, June 30, 2014

#9 + #14

I left school and walked out to my car.... 

You won't believe what happened next!!!

(Just a little tongue in cheek reference to those silly videos with cliffhanger titles that are all over Facebook these days.) I've gotta keep y'all reading somehow...

But before I tell you what I found, let me back up to the last week of May. It was an ordinary Tuesday. I had just finished teaching my after school guitar class, and I got a few visits from my teacher friends. 

Sweet Lyndsey Trickett comes into my classroom. "How are you??" she asked with a big smile. "How's everything going with Derek??" 

Of course I went on and on for about 5 minutes, just babbling about his thoughtfulness, his kindness, his manliness...he's kind of my favorite thing to talk about these days. 

Well just about as soon as Lyndsey left, my teacher friend Cyndi Waddell walked in and asked me what kind of car I drove. I knew she drives a white CR-V, same as me. 

"Well I just discovered that several bird eggs fell onto my windshield, cracked open, and have been baking in the sun all day," Cyndi said. "They smell bad and will probably take a long time to scrape off. Just remember that when you look at your windshield, okay?" I was confused and felt terrible for Cyndi. 

What the heck could be on my car???

Well... I walked out and found a love note and a single rose on my windshield. SWOON. 


Men of the world, please take notes. This guy is doing it right. 

So back to #9 on my list. 

Fast forward about a week- it's the first week of June and school is almost over. I notice a piece of paper on my windshield and think it's probably just some kind of junk mail flyer. I look to the cars beside me... They don't have flyers on their cars. 

This is what I found. 


That's right. Reservations to see a show at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville!!! 

Sadly there was no one else in the parking lot, so I just squealed and jumped up and down by myself. 

That Saturday, we knocked out the 6 hour road trip like champs. We chomped on peanut M&Ms, played 20 questions, and talked and talked and talked about everything under the sun. 


My boyfriend is just the coolest. 

Once we got to Nashville, we got to hang out with Amanda, my college BFF and lifelong friend, starting with some margaritas right across the street from Dolly Parton's recording studio. 


We were planning on hitting up a music festival next, but it started to storm, so we went shopping at Anthropologie instead. (Throw me in the briar patch!)

When it was finally time to go to the Bluebird, I was wound up tighter than a banjo string. 

The Bluebird Cafe is in a tiny strip mall in Green Hills, right next to a home decor store. We waited in line for about half an hour to get inside, even through we had reservations. I couldn't believe how tiny the space was. We were seated right by the stage!



Songwriter Lari White came up and sat behind a keyboard. Her ponytailed husband Chuck Cannon sat down beside her with his guitar. A feisty woman with a halter top and cowboy hat came up next - Lisa Carver. And finally, closest to us, was Chuck Jones, a singer songwriter that I had been watching on YouTube pretty much nonstop for the past week. He wrote several number 1 country hits: "Your Love Amazes Me," and "Love a Little Stronger," both of which I got to hear that night, to my delight. 


The night unfolded with each musician telling a story and playing a song, in a really casual, round robin style. There were no flashy light shows, music videos, or backup dancers. 

This place is all about the music. And let me tell you, music doesn't get much better than this. 

It was one of the best shows I've ever seen. 

When Chuck Cannon performed his song, "I Love the Way You Love Me," I was immediately moved to tears. The guitar accompaniment was incredibly beautiful, and the sweet lyrics reminded me of Derek. His love genuinely amazes me. He doesn't enjoy country music at all, but he planned and paid for the whole trip because he knew it would make me happy. 

I didn't know my heart could hold that much happy. 



Now I know:
"Your Love Amazes Me" might just be our song.