I don't even know where to start. So many exciting -- and not so exciting -- things have happened since that little Scottie dog herded the sheep in our field.
Adam and I can now say that we have been married for 26th years -- officially "together" for 27. I can't believe it. I certainly don't *feel* like I could have possibly been married that long... I always tease Adam about being married to such an old man, but the sad part of that statement is that I am five-months-minus-one-day older than him. :)
Physically speaking, I can tell that I am getting older and for me, the biggest changes have happened in the last two years. My hair has a lot more gray; it's still mostly brown so I haven't wanted to break down and color it yet, but it is gray enough that I no longer want to pull them all out because frankly, I just can't keep up. My eyes are getting older and I can barely read without using those "cheap" reader glasses because I'm not ready to admit that I need to go to the eye doctor yet (I see distances just fine so don't worry, I can still keep the car in the middle of the road so I'm not a danger to anyone on the sidewalks). My body is starting to break down. I had to have my gallbladder out last year and I *tried* to convince the surgeon to *accidentally* cut a little lower and remove another part or higher to remove my brain. He, being the professional that he is, didn't go for it so I'm still dealing with the problems that happen when girls get older and I feel like I lack the brain power required to be a functioning human adult (haha). I was diagnosed with that Hashimoto's Thyroid *thing* a couple of years ago and it has been a great excuse for all the little things that just don't feel right. I got the thyroid experience from my mom and we constantly compare notes regarding our health. It's weird to try to describe to the non-believer -- you don't really have anything that you can say is wrong, but you just feel like hell all of the time and you have no energy to do anything other than what has to be done, like work, take care of the family, etc. The worst part about having thyroid issues is my skin. My skin is so dang dry (and living in the desert certainly doesn't help matters). I'm constantly dealing with flaky, cracked skin and some days the pain from the cracks in my feet and hands is more than I can mentally deal with. Needless to say, I've been battling depression pretty heavily this year.
Depressing stuff aside...
Best thing that happened to me this summer? August 22. Tom (my older brother), Adam and I went to USANA to see Dave Mason, Doobie Brothers, and of course my favorite - JOURNEY. We had front row seats on the left (north) side of the stage, directly in front of the speakers. I don't know how I managed to score uncomfortable seats like that, but I can say that we literally lived the experience. We resonated with every sound throughout the entire show. I can't even tell you how happy I was to have my ear plugs. I would have been miserable without them.
Dave Mason's band played some old songs that we all recognized. Tom "Googled" Dave's name before the show and we were surprised to see how many (famous) people he's played/recorded with throughout the years, and how many songs he wrote for other singers. I talked to my mom the day after the show and she raved about how much she loved his music; as a matter of fact, she told me that she was sitting in her car in a parking lot listening to one of his songs when they announced the end of the Vietnam War.
Dave Mason's Setlist included:
1) Only You Know and I Know
2) Rock and Roll Stew
3) We Just Disagree
4) Feelin' Alright
5) All Along the Watchtower
I LOVED the Doobie Brothers. Their music is not something that I randomly listen to these days, but they have a ton of songs that I remember from my youth.
Doobie Brother's Setlist included:
1) Jesus is Just Alright
2) Rockin' Down the Highway
3) Take Me in Your Arms (Rock Me)
4) Dark Eyed Cajun Woman
5) Spirit
6) Sweet Maxine
7) Eyes of Silver
8) Clear as the Driven Snow
9) Billy Payne Piano Solo
10) Takin' It to the Streets
11) The Doctor
12) Black Water
13) Long Train Runnin'
14) China Grove
15) Encore: Without You
16) Encore: Listen to the Music
Journey, of course, was the bomb! Their drummer from the most recent years allegedly did something pretty naughty (according to the news at the time) and apparently the band parted ways with him just before the Stadium of Fire concert that we attended on the 4th of July last summer. This tour, they brought on their former late-1970s through mid-1990s drummer, Steve Smith. It was so exciting to see him play with the band. That man knows how to rock! (Of course, I probably would have enjoyed it even more if I hadn't been in front of the speakers.) He is an exceptional drummer. I am definitely a fan and I literally can't say that I prefer one singer or drummer more than another because honestly, I "love" them all. All the musicians have been so awesome -- I'm just so thankful they have kept the band going and I sincerely hope that they will for many years to come...
It almost feels "sacrilegious" for me to say that something seemed a little off at this show. I couldn't quite tell what it was -- whether it was the dry air doing a number on Arnel's voice, or if it was the fact that the music just seemed a little slower, or if it was my expectation of the experience (back to that earlier comment about being directly in front of the speakers). I did get to experience the fan-girl moment by touching hands with Arnel when he got down from the stage and ran across the front row of concert attendees (haha).
Journey's Setlist included:
1) Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)
2) Be Good to Yourself
3) Only the Young
4) The Star-Spangled Banner
5) Stone in Love
6) Any Way You Want It
7) Lights
8) Jonathan Cain Piano Solo
9) Open Arms
10) Who's Crying Now
11) Escape
12) La Do Da
13) Steven Smith Drum Solo
14) Wheel in the Sky
15) Faithfully
16) Don't Stop Believin'
17) Encore: Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin'
18) End Music over the sound system: Arnel's version of The Place in Your Heart
My second favorite day of the summer happened the day before the Journey concert. We were supposed to go to Idaho to see The Steve Augeri Band perform at Lava Hot Springs, but it turned out to be an elaborate Internet hoax because a couple of days before the show when I was trying to figure out directions to the venue I noticed that the website had been taken down. I did eventually get in touch with someone on Facebook who told me that the show had been cancelled. (We saw Steve Augeri perform last year and he was AWESOME!) Needless to say, I was pretty sad that the show had been cancelled because we had been planning and counting on it for so long... When we talked about it as a family, Adian suggested that we go to the Grand Canyon. So, we looked it up on Google Maps and found out that the North Rim is only about 4 1/2 hours from our house. The next day we packed up the car and left at 9:00 in the morning. We made one big pit stop for a snack run and we also stopped for lunch in Circleville.
(As a side note: My family took a trip to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon just after Mom & Bill were married in 1983. Bill had a job interview in Arizona during the hottest part of the summer and we rode in a car with no air-conditioning. It was a memorable trip, for sure! I think we were all very thankful that he got the job in Dallas instead of Arizona because the weather in Dallas was so much better...)
This time around, my little family had the luxury of being in an air-conditioned car. The kids behaved themselves, unlike most of the other family outings that we've had in the past. There was very little fighting this time so maybe we can handle taking a few more trips before they are all grown and out of the house.
The North Rim of the Grand Canyon is an absolutely gorgeous place. It is so magical -- the colors, the scenery, the view. We followed a little trail near the log cabin to a lookout point, spent a lot of time admiring the view and taking a ton of pictures... I thought it was interesting that Adam and Abby (who resemble each other) were more daring than Adian and I (I often refer to him as my "mini-me" because he is so much like me), we both preferred to stay in the center of the trail where the other two liked to venture over to the edge.
Other points of interest this past summer included the Indigenous show with my mom and the Brand New/Modest Mouse concert at The Saltaire with Adam (horrible venue, great show). Adam wasn't thrilled about attending that one but he went because he loves me. Next time I think I will take my mom or Adian to that one. Adam and I also attended the Dennis DeYoung/Boston concert at USANA (8th row, center stage seats were absolutely awesome!). I took my daughter to see her dream-beau, Shawn Mendez with James TW as the opening act at The Saltaire. (The performances rocked, but the "show" was horrible -- there were what seemed like a million pre-pubescent girls with an occasional teenage boy inside the venue instead of outside where they would have been able to comfortably accommodate that many people. There was no way in hell I was going to be close to the stage for that show so I let Abby go up while I went to the back row. I was close enough to keep an eye on her and bring $5.00 bottles of water to keep her hydrated.) Adam and I got to experience Black Sabbath's "The End" tour this month, too, with Tom and his friend. Funny thing about that show is that despite the fact that it was sold out we ran into one of Adam's friends in the center of the crowd.
Earlier in the year Adam and I, along with Tom and his friend, got to see Big Head Todd and The Monsters at the Depot. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that band! Tom took me to see them the summer before at Red Rocks in Morrison, Colorado, so I was so thrilled when I found out that they would be in Utah. Funny thing about that particular show is when Tom pointed out a guy across the audience and asked me if I thought it was one of our old friends from Mesquite, Texas. Sure enough, it was. We loved having the opportunity to talk to him again after all these years.
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