It's been along time since I've written on this blog. Have no fear though the diet is still going on strong. What you don't know is that last week I was on vacation from work. I had plans of grandeur. I was going to drive my car up the east coast visiting just about everyone I knew along the way. Then the day before I was to leave I took my car to the shop to get an oil change. The oil change ended up costing $700 and changes in the plan had to be made. I was extremely depressed cause I was so looking forward to the time away and seeing friends that I haven't seen in a long time. The one thing that kind of made it better was that Amy Grant was performing a concert south of Atlanta in a town called Peachtree City. I have tried numerous times to get people to go to concerts with me to no avail so I thought instead of going through that frustration I would just book it and go by myself. I found 1 seat in the second row and I booked my hotel room.
On Friday morning I got up realizing I didn't have any cash on me I went to the bank and tried to take some money out. It was 8:15 in the morning and while I was taking $60 out I turned my head for a brief moment. I was checking to make sure I had my registration and proof of insurance in the glove compartment. The money came and went before I grabbed it. I couldn't believe it. I called my house and my roommates, ok parents, said I could borrow some money so I came back home to get it. While I was home my mother asked me to find some keys that I had used but not put back in the correct spot. The search ended up being forever. I finally found them but was frustrated because I didn't think I was going to make the 3:30 cut off for the sound check, I am of course a member of the fan club. I got in the car reminding myself to stay calm it's not that big of a deal at least you can see the concert. The GPS in the car said that I would get there at 3:37 and I knew that I could shave a few minutes off of that. So I would have to stop as quickly and possible to eat and go to the bathroom.
I stopped once, didn't eat, but I made it to The Fred Amphitheater by 3:35pm. I was relieved when I saw other people arriving. We all went to will call and gathered up our passes and went to the entrance. We were lead into the outdoor theater, with a slight drizzle coming down. We sat in the first two rows and Amy and crew came out to rehearse. I found sound check fascinating. I hadn't been to a sound check in a long time. Basically all it was about was getting the levels correct in their ear pieces so they could hear each other play. I've always wondered what it would be like to be onstage with the music blaring. I would have been interesting to put ear pieces on and listen to what they hear but maybe that will be next time. Amy sang a few songs, even at one point asking our small audience if any one knew the lyrics to the third verse of a song. After wards when Amy came down to chat with us a group next to me reminded Amy of the lyrics. They joked after Amy left that they would put the lyrics on some poster board for her.
Amy came over and chatted with me for a few minutes. I clammed up again for some reason I didn't quite know what to say. She asked me 'is life good?" Of course my dear readers I said 'yes.' It would have taken too long to explain what life is really like at this point. What I haven't told you all is that I've been sick all summer long. I'm not going to go into the details but test after test and doctor's haven't figured out what is wrong yet. I have more tests in a couple of weeks. I also feel like I'm at a crossroads in my life, but I always feel like that. That's why this trip was very important to me. I needed time to be by myself and just think. Some how Amy's music and personality brings that out in me.
After checking into the hotel and having some dinner at Carrabas I went back to the theater. I had time to kill so I walked around, spoke to friends on the phone etc. Being September 11th, there was a patriotic tribute. The color guard came out and did their thing, a young lady came out and sang the national anthem and then a barber shop group came out and sang. Since I consider myself a New Yorker or at least from the northeast, it was nice to see how the whole country embraces September 11th. Then a band called Open Door came out. They were a very upbeat christian band.
Then Amy came out at about 8:45 or so. She sang for a little over an hour and a half. She sang a mix of old songs and new songs. The old favorites were there, Baby Baby, Love of Another Kind, Lucky One, Saved By Love etc. When the song that she didn't know the lyrics to the 3rd verse came up the group that was at the sound check put their poster board up, made for a laugh. Amy was calm, confident and looked like she was just having fun. She even joked "I'm feeling a little slow today so I don't imagine you will be coming away from this overstimulated." Amy always misses a few chords and starts over again at her concerts. The way she does it makes you like her even more. It almost gives the appearance of 'hey I'm human', then she fixes it and it sounds wonderful.
I'm glad I made the journey. It was a stretch to drive almost 300 miles to go to a concert by myself but I feel a little more clear headed and know what I have to do to make the changes in my life that I want. Sometimes it just Takes A Little Time.