Part 3 - Eric Church just stole my Sharpie.

At the end of the concert, Eric Church hopped down into the audience and started signing autographs.

I do not have the advantage of height, so I could not tell where the hell EFC was in the crowd. Instead of standing on my tippy toes and trying to see (which is absolutely pointless), I stood there in the front row and kept singing and dancing to the song 'Springsteen.'

And then I noticed the spotlight, which I presumed was on Eric Church in the crowd, kept getting closer to me.

And closer.

And then a little bit closer.

OH MY GOD.

I was recording Springsteen, and I stopped recording and put my phone in my pocket. I grabbed my Sharpie and got my Rolling Stone out of my purse. (See the video later in this post, the video I took during Born to Run and Springsteen.)

And then a second later, Eric Church was standing right in front of me. He took my copy of Rolling Stone, looked me right in the eye, did his little Eric Church squeal/howl, then turned the magazine over and autographed it for me.

Before the concert, I thought a lot about what I would say to him if he gave me an autograph. I decided beforehand I would just simply tell him 'thank you.'

I held my magazine out several times for him to sign throughout the concert, but he always walked the other direction.

When Eric Church was finally in front of me, with no one in between us, I could not say anything. No words came out of my mouth.

Instead, I smiled the biggest smile ever. He returned the smile, and then he took my sharpie to sign my concert buddy's boots.

That moment was pure happiness. In my world there was nothing bad going on. Heart break didn't exist and stressful moments were in the rear view mirror.

I punched my concert buddy in the arm.

"Eric Church just stole my Sharpie," I told him.

My concert buddy laughed.

Eric Church can steal my Sharpie whenever he wants to.

As the concert ended, EC told the sold out crowd that his summer had been rough and that he needed tonight. He pointed to the fans in the front row, and said something like "I need this right now. I need you guys during 'Springsteen.'"

The thing is, we need him, too.

A photo I stole online of EC signing autographs during Springsteen.

I needed that moment.

Life is not always pretty. As I walked away from the concert that night, with my signed copy of Rolling Stone in my hand, I silently thanked the events in my life that had led me to this point.

This point — the point that involves being single and going to a concert eight hours away just because I want to — this is the point in my life that I am thankful for.

I'm having a record year.

---

The other cool thing?

As soon as EC started singing the words to Born to Run, my heart started to smile.

I've been listening to this song on repeat over the last couple of weeks.

And I got to hear my favorite artist sing it, AND THEN he signed autographs right after it?

Sigh.

In the day we sweat it out on the streets of a runaway American dream
At night we ride through the mansions of glory in suicide machines
Sprung from cages out on highway nine,
Chrome wheeled, fuel injected, and steppin' out over the line
H-Oh, Baby this town rips the bones from your back
It's a death trap, it's a suicide rap
We gotta get out while we're young
`Cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run

Yes, girl we were

Wendy let me in I wanna be your friend
I want to guard your dreams and visions
Just wrap your legs 'round these velvet rims
And strap your hands 'cross my engines
Together we could break this trap
We'll run till we drop, baby we'll never go back
H-Oh, Will you walk with me out on the wire
`Cause baby I'm just a scared and lonely rider
But I gotta know how it feels
I want to know if love is wild
Babe I want to know if love is real

Oh, can you show me

Beyond the Palace hemi-powered drones scream down the boulevard
Girls comb their hair in rearview mirrors
And the boys try to look so hard
The amusement park rises bold and stark
Kids are huddled on the beach in a mist
I wanna die with you Wendy on the street tonight
In an everlasting kiss

One, two, three, four

The highway's jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive
Everybody's out on the run tonight
But there's no place left to hide
Together Wendy we can live with the sadness
I'll love you with all the madness in my soul
H-Oh, Someday girl I don't know when
We're gonna get to that place
Where we really wanna go
And we'll walk in the sun
But till then tramps like us
Baby we were born to run

Oh honey, tramps like us
Baby we were born to run

Come on with me, tramps like us
Baby we were born to run

-Born to Run

Bruce Springsteen

Part 2 - A love like that

Part dos of this here blog post is dedicated to the amazing people I met at the Eric Church concert.

I went to this concert solo, and I was really nervous about it. I was nervous about parking in the parking garage, I was nervous about getting lost in the parking garage, and I was nervous about finding the theater in a huge casino.

It turns out I had nothing to be nervous about.

I left my Rolling Stone in the car, so I had to go back and get it. I walked right to my car, so there were no issues getting lost there. (Parking garages and I don't get along.)

Once I picked my spot by the stage, I stood there and listened to other people's conversations. I smiled when they told jokes, but I didn't feel comfortable inserting myself into the conversation.

The couples around me were all recently empty nesters. They did not know each other, so they did their introductions and said how old their kids were and how great life is now that the kids are gone.

Ha.

The couples agreed at this stage in life is the best stage. It's even better than pre-kids, they said, because now they have disposable income that they didn't have before in life.

Three couples, six people, drinking beer and having a great time on a Saturday night...and then there's little lonely Monica, standing there awkwardly not talking to anyone.

The guy beside me nudged me, and asked me if I was ready for some EC.

I said yes.

We struck up a conversation. They are from Idaho and they lost count of how many Eric Church concerts they've been to.

They're going to the show in Oregon next week.

This is what they do on the weekends, they told me. They fly to wherever Eric Church is playing, and they always get pit tickets.

Being in the pit is the key, the man told me.

I told him that I had never been in the pit at an EC concert before.

My new found friend told me that from now on, I'll never sit in the seats again.

He was right.

I appreciate that this couple adopted me at the concert and included me in their circle of people.

They said their kids were 24 and 22, and they were not yet 50 years old.

I saw how close they were and how loving they acted towards each other. I love the fact that they both love concerts and have a blast going to them together.

As the concert ended and I said goodbye to my concert buddies, I thought to myself, man, I hope I find a love like that some day.

Part 1 - Going to Church

If you want to know how my adult life is going, here is a pretty good example.

About a month ago, I worked pretty hard all night. I bragged to people that I adulted successfully.

I got my tires replaced, fixed the AC in my car, replaced the tail lights and replaced the windshield wipers.

I was especially proud of the windshield wipers. I put them on myself after YouTubing the directions.

When I booked this Eric Church road trip to Oklahoma/Texas, I was pretty confident about my car.

When I was returning from my trip, I was driving north of Oklahoma City in pouring rain on the interstate.

My car was running perfect. I had just gone to Church, and I was in a fantastic mood.

As I was driving 70ish miles an hour down the road, my windshield wiper blades flew off my car.

My first two thoughts were:

• Well that was 40 bucks well spent. 
• This is the definition of adulthood. 

I stopped in Wichita on the way back to buy new windshield wiper blades, and this time I asked the guy at the car shop to put them on.

Live and learn, people. Sometimes lessons are learned the hard way.

(If you're wondering what I did on the interstate in the pouring rain with no wipers, I kept on driving. It seemed like the safest thing to do.)

This happened at the end of the trip. Why am I starting off this here blog post with the end?

To quote my favorite book, The Five People You Meet in Heaven:

It might seem strange to start a story with an ending. But all endings are also beginnings. We just don't know it at the time.

These boots.

Pit.

Ps, I have no idea how many parts will be in this series of blog posts. I'm making this up as I go along, as I do with most other things in life.

Not perfect.

2-year-old

"Monta! I'm so happy you're here!"

- My favorite 2-year-old blond little girl with the same last name as me.

Sometimes you need talk to a 2-year-old to understand life again.

Eventually.

I wrote this three years ago. It still rings true today.

---

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Stay

I was thinking about this last night.

After my friends get married, a few months after the ceremony and reception, I always ask them how they knew they married the right person.

I'm single and prospecting, as one of my co-workers put it this morning (ha, ha). I ask my friends that question because I don't know the answer.

My oldest and best friend had my favorite answer. I remember that conversation like it happened yesterday.

We were sitting in a garage last summer, playing with dogs. I was talking about my personal life - which doesn't happen very often - and I remember specifically what she said to me on how she knew she picked the right person to marry.

"He stayed."

It's a simple answer.

All you have to do is find someone who will stay? I always thought there was some unknown magic trick to love (or something like that...).

It turns out that nope, there's no magic trick or formula.

All they have to do is stay.

Last summer, I thought that answer was bullshit. There has to be some way to know, I thought. 

I get it now. Staying is important.

One of the consequences and side effects of being human is finding a person who won't stay.

When I look at my married friends, how happy they are and how their spouses blend seamlessly into our group of friends, I have a little glimmer of hope.

Eventually, someone will stay.

Eventually.

Don't push me