"Aunt Monica, why's this guy singing about going to bed?"

This post is what happens when someone has too much time on her hands on a drive home on a moonless, starless, cloudy night. 

---

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. 

Me:

 What a beautiful moment for the world. 

---

Match.com changed its font, and it's really been bugging me lately. Not bugging me as much as literally telling me that I'm the second most important woman in your life...but still. It bugs me. (I'm in a mood tonight.)

The best way I can describe my current mood: I want to feel like I'm one in a million, not one of two. 

One of two is no bueno. One in a million is bueno. 

---

Parents: We want grandkids!

Me:

Little universe

 

"That's going on my blog."

 During a Dad/daughter road trip:  

Me: "Did you hear there's water on the moon?"

Dad: "There's also water on Uranus."

Me: "That's going on my blog."

Tonight we don't give a damn.

Through My Ray Bans

 Yeah, I know a place where kings and paupers

Drink with the dreamers and the cheaters and the longers

And the dealers deal aces from a loaded stack of cards

Now what if I told you a place existed

Where the magic in the air tastes like moonlight on the lips

And no hand in the deck beat a pair of hearts

Everybody's got their arms around

Everybody else's shoulders

Guarding against the world outside

Like an army of Friday night soldiers

The battle wages tomorrow

But tonight you don't give a damn

Wish you could stay the way I see you

Through my Ray Bans

I see a place where a moment in time

Is a kaleidoscope of color on a canvas of white

Where the voices roar at the noise of the poet's whine

Would you believe my story, oh, about what I'm setting

If I told you the tale I'm in the middle of telling

Yes, it's true as the blue in the grass or the green in the sky

Everybody's got their arms around

Everybody else's shoulders

Guarding against the world outside

Like an army of Friday night soldiers

The battle wages tomorrow

But tonight you don't give a damn

Wish you could stay the way I see you

Through my Ray Bans

Everybody's got their arms around

Everybody else's shoulders

Guarding against the world outside

Like an army of Friday night soldiers

The battle wages tomorrow

But tonight we've got a drink in our hand

Wish you could stay the way I see you

Through my Ray Bans

---

Wow. It's nice to know fans aren't the only ones who feel the magic in the air during concerts. 

I could write about this and go on and on and on, but I won't. If you read thishereblog, you'll know that music has healed my heart more than once. Music has healed my heart so much that when I ran into an acquaintance in the grocery store the other day, and when that person asked me my ex's last name, I could not remember it. 

I looked at my acquaintance in the eyes and laughed the biggest laugh I've ever laughed recently. 

Someone I thought I'd spend forever with, and I couldn't even remember his last name years later near the orange juice and milk. My parting thoughts with that friend was something like: "I guess you're not going to get a wedding invitation if I can't remember his name." 

Ha! I doubt that would have happened if it weren't for the 3.4 million Eric Church concerts I've gone to since 2018. 

I wish everyone could experience a moment like that — a magical moment when you realize you dated a loser who wasn't worth remembering. 

I hope everyone experiences that ability to move on after a break up, especially the person whose name I'll never forget. 

It's funny how you remember some and forget some. When I get that figured out, I'll let you know. 

In the meantime, I'm going to go listen to Eric Church. 

---

Everybody's got their arms around

Everybody else's shoulders

Guarding against the world outside

Like an army of Friday night soldiers

---

More than 55,000 Friday night soldiers in Nashville last year. 

Three fortunes

 I went out to eat today and got three fortunes in my fortune cookie. That's right, three fortunes!

They are: 

Listen these next few days to your friends to find the answers you seek. 

A pleasant surprise is in store for you soon. 

You will make many changes before settling satisfactorily. 

:)

Kicks and giggles

 I snuck some Eric Church lyrics into a conversation recently, and I'm really proud of myself. 

The lyrics: Some of it you learn the hard way. 

The song: 

Some of It

Eric Church

Beer don't keep
Love's not cheap
And trucks don't wreck themselves
Mama ain't a shrink
Daddy ain't a bank
And God ain't a wishin' well
Money ain't rich
Everybody sins
And nobody wins in a fight
And sometimes wrong gets right

Some of it you learn the hard way
Some of it you read on a page
Some of it comes from heartbreak
Most of it comes with age
And none of it ever comes easy
A bunch of it you maybe can't use
I know I don't probably know what I think I do
But there's somethin' to
Some of it

Girls like to laugh
Tears don't last
And scared's what praying's for
If it's close, swing the bat
Everybody's gotta past
And love's worth living for
When you dance, hold her close
'Til it breaks, go for broke
Be the first to reach for her hand
No you don't get to do some things again

Some of it you learn the hard way
Some of it you read on a page
Some of it comes from heartbreak
Most of it comes with age
And none of it ever comes easy
A bunch of it you maybe can't use
I know I don't probably know what I think I do
But there's somethin' to
Some of it

When you can't take it slow
'Cause time sure won't
What really makes you a man
Is being true to her 'til your glass runs out of sand

Some of it you learn the hard way
Some of it you read on a page
Some of it comes from heartbreak
Most of it comes with age
And none of it ever comes easy
A bunch of it you maybe can't use
I know I don't probably know what I think I do
But there's somethin' to
Some of it
Some of it