This post is what happens when someone has too much time on her hands on a drive home on a moonless, starless, cloudy night.
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I've driven through worse.
Last year, I went to see Eric Church post break-up and drove through a winter storm.
This year, I was tasked with trying to beat a storm home, which I did many, many times through college.
I used to drive a lot, back in college and in a former job. Now, going to Wichita and back is a big deal that doesn't happen as often as it should.
Anyway, the point of thishereblogpost is to talk about the music on my drive. I've heard several songs, including my favorite song ever, "Record Year," mention turning the speakers up to 10.
On my car radio, the speakers can go up to 62. So to cure my boredom while driving 300 miles roundtrip in a day, I set my car to play Spotify on random order, and I paid attention to what songs I turned up.
Well, let's just say that "Stick That In Your Country Song" and "Through My Ray Bans" both got a volume nod of 62.
Dan and Shay's "I Should Probably Go To Bed," also a 62. (Also, I renamed the song, "Aunt Monica, why's this guy singing about going to bed?")
I don't want readers of thishereblog to think that I only did this to my country playlist. Oh, no. I did it to my "Favorites" list, which is my "Favorites that aren't country" playlist.
Dropkick Murphy's "Kiss Me, I'm Shitfaced" gets a nod here. It wasn't a 62, but it was a solid 50, complete with me singing like a moron through the streets of Wichita.
Then there's Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know" which I had forgotten about that hits a little too close to home right now. That song was a solid 50 on the speakers.
I grew up going to Alan Jackson, George Strait and Gary Allan concerts throughout my childhood and high school years. In college, I branched out and discovered that Hanson shows are amazing, but there's nothing like seeing them at home in Cain's Ballroom in Tulsa.
Hanson was on my list today as well. And you better believe I listen to "Man From Milwaukee" when I go to Milwaukee every year for Pugfest.
Ahem.
And then there's a slew of concerts that I've been to in the last few years. They include:
- Gary Allen
- Jake Owen
- Lanco x 2
- Hanson
- Justin Moore
- Eric Church times....however many times I've seen him. It was five times last year.
- Thomas Rhett
- Brett Eldridge
- Brother's Osborne
Ya'll...I kind of like music. When people complain that the next town over from us gets a clothing store that will pay teenagers $10 an hour, I'm over here like, did you guys know that Lanco came here and performed BETTER than the act they opened for?!?
Lanco is why you never miss the opening band, by the way.
Anyway, back to the topic at hand. My stupid Spotify playlist kept replaying two songs, out of the thousands of songs I have on it. It kept playing "Tin Man" by Miranda Lambert and "Greatest Love Story" by Lanco.
I still remember how Lanco introduced that song before they sang it here in town. They said: "I hope you find your love story, and I hope it's the greatest love story ever."
And then "Tin Man" is about getting your heart ripped out and shredded into a million little pieces.
I have some experience with both of those things, and both of those songs mean a lot to me. The second and third time they played tonight, I figured the universe was trying to tell me something, so I listened to those songs in their entirety.
I thought a lot about life and how things happen tonight, and why they happen when they happen. Why does one person meet that person, and how one person across the country can impact your life, whether you like it or not.
What's that called, the Butterfly Effect? Someone sneezes in California and it impacts someone in Kansas?
Something like that.
Why does it happen? I have no idea. I didn't come up with any answers tonight, only more questions.
I expertly timed my trip back home, and it started spitting snow just as I arrived in my home county. One of my favorite things to do is to stay up until the bar down the street closes, and listen for the drivers who honestly think they can make it up a snowy brick street on a hill.
Hint: You can't. Turn around, morons.
