“Memories they can't be boughten
They can't be won at carnivals for free
Well it took me years
To get those souvenirs
And I don't know how they slipped away from me”
- John Prine “Souvenirs”
Well, if the start of 2008 is any indication, this is gonna be a year to remember! Having lived in FL and upstate NY since February 2002, I hadn’t been able to spend any time in Nashville and that, as you know if you know me at all, is a crime against my nature! But that’s all about to change!
In fact, it already has! I was able to spend a week there during the holidays. I started it off on December 29th by catching a Tommy Womack show at Norm’s River Roadhouse. Now, that place didn’t even exist when I was in town. Anyway, Peter Cooper opened the show so I got to reconnect with 2 friends immediately. And, as if that wasn’t enough, Nancy (Campbell) Godek and her husband, Bob, met me for dinner earlier in the evening and went to the show with me. Nancy was on the scene back in the halcyon days of Guido’s Pizzaria in the mid-‘90s. She, too, has just moved back after living in FL for a few years. You can catch her singing with Jerry Hager around town. Tell’em Hayseed sent ya!
Jon Weisberger invited us out to a New Year’s Eve bluegrass jam in Ridgetop. Even though he took a last-minute gig and didn’t show up til after midnight, it was a fun night. I don’t care who ya are, sittin’ around listening to Roland White, Larry Stephenson, and David Grier jam in the living room is a great way to kick off the year! Nancy, Bob, and my friend, Stephen Bryant, accompanied me to that one and, as they say, “A good time was had by all!”
And that set off a week of reconnections and my driving around town almost constantly saying to myself (out loud), “Hey! That wasn’t there!” or “Man! What did they do to The Gulch?!” (For the record: I ain’t a fan of what they’ve done to the neighborhood around Station Inn.) There were a few places in town that, had I been plunked there blindfolded, I wouldn’t even have known in which city I was!
It was awesome to see long-time friends’ smiling faces and give’em a big ol’ Hayseed bear hug. (“Yeah, I missed you. Deal with it!”) The biggest change was the kids of some of my friends. In the life of a child, even a few months can bring tremendous change but when you compound that by years… well, it’s astounding. Having been away for so long, there was no incremental change for me. It was massive and sudden! Some of those kids have kids of their own now!
But I was in heaven! I could hardly stop grinning the whole time I was in town! Breakfast at Hermitage Café, a cheeseburger on sourdough bread at Rotier’s… oh, yeah!
Living in Columbus now has put me within driving distance of Nashville and my family in KY and IN. I think I’ve seen my family every month since I’ve been back in this part of the country! That’s good stuff. No more family reunions or b’day parties without me (“Happy 80th, Uncle Denny! Happy 50th, Brent!”). I’ve even been able to reconnect with some childhood friends… the folks who have known me since I was “knee-high to a grasshopper.”
I got to see my cousin Jeremy preach on Sunday morning and it brought tears to my eyes (ok, ok... they were running down my cheeks). He’s got a lot of my dad’s mannerisms and preaching style. Pops would be proud. Sitting in O’Charley’s with Jackie (Kennedy) & Richard Freeman and Misty (Morel) Coffey after how many years? And I spent 4 hrs (!) catching up with Regina (Adams) Heller after not having seen her in about 17 years! My face still aches a little from the laughter. Of course, we had to call Renee (Leslie) Buckhoff so I could rub it in that I was hanging out with Regina! (Wish you could have been there, Renee!)
So, should you learn anything at all about me, it’s likely to be this: If you knew me at any point in my life, there’s a VERY good chance that your phone will ring one day and I’ll be on the other end! I love those reconnections; those threads running back through my life. Everybody has a story and I like keeping mine alive.
Hence the John Prine song I quoted at the start of this blog. Souvenirs. It’s the experiences we pick up along life’s journey that make it so rich. All of the ‘heart scars’ and ‘character-building’ that we go through makes us unique. All of that stuff informs who we are today. And I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
Thanks for stopping by.
Take care, hug your loved ones, and call an old friend today. Tell’em Hayseed sent ya!
Hayseed
They can't be won at carnivals for free
Well it took me years
To get those souvenirs
And I don't know how they slipped away from me”
- John Prine “Souvenirs”
Well, if the start of 2008 is any indication, this is gonna be a year to remember! Having lived in FL and upstate NY since February 2002, I hadn’t been able to spend any time in Nashville and that, as you know if you know me at all, is a crime against my nature! But that’s all about to change!
In fact, it already has! I was able to spend a week there during the holidays. I started it off on December 29th by catching a Tommy Womack show at Norm’s River Roadhouse. Now, that place didn’t even exist when I was in town. Anyway, Peter Cooper opened the show so I got to reconnect with 2 friends immediately. And, as if that wasn’t enough, Nancy (Campbell) Godek and her husband, Bob, met me for dinner earlier in the evening and went to the show with me. Nancy was on the scene back in the halcyon days of Guido’s Pizzaria in the mid-‘90s. She, too, has just moved back after living in FL for a few years. You can catch her singing with Jerry Hager around town. Tell’em Hayseed sent ya!
Jon Weisberger invited us out to a New Year’s Eve bluegrass jam in Ridgetop. Even though he took a last-minute gig and didn’t show up til after midnight, it was a fun night. I don’t care who ya are, sittin’ around listening to Roland White, Larry Stephenson, and David Grier jam in the living room is a great way to kick off the year! Nancy, Bob, and my friend, Stephen Bryant, accompanied me to that one and, as they say, “A good time was had by all!”
And that set off a week of reconnections and my driving around town almost constantly saying to myself (out loud), “Hey! That wasn’t there!” or “Man! What did they do to The Gulch?!” (For the record: I ain’t a fan of what they’ve done to the neighborhood around Station Inn.) There were a few places in town that, had I been plunked there blindfolded, I wouldn’t even have known in which city I was!
It was awesome to see long-time friends’ smiling faces and give’em a big ol’ Hayseed bear hug. (“Yeah, I missed you. Deal with it!”) The biggest change was the kids of some of my friends. In the life of a child, even a few months can bring tremendous change but when you compound that by years… well, it’s astounding. Having been away for so long, there was no incremental change for me. It was massive and sudden! Some of those kids have kids of their own now!
But I was in heaven! I could hardly stop grinning the whole time I was in town! Breakfast at Hermitage Café, a cheeseburger on sourdough bread at Rotier’s… oh, yeah!
Living in Columbus now has put me within driving distance of Nashville and my family in KY and IN. I think I’ve seen my family every month since I’ve been back in this part of the country! That’s good stuff. No more family reunions or b’day parties without me (“Happy 80th, Uncle Denny! Happy 50th, Brent!”). I’ve even been able to reconnect with some childhood friends… the folks who have known me since I was “knee-high to a grasshopper.”
I got to see my cousin Jeremy preach on Sunday morning and it brought tears to my eyes (ok, ok... they were running down my cheeks). He’s got a lot of my dad’s mannerisms and preaching style. Pops would be proud. Sitting in O’Charley’s with Jackie (Kennedy) & Richard Freeman and Misty (Morel) Coffey after how many years? And I spent 4 hrs (!) catching up with Regina (Adams) Heller after not having seen her in about 17 years! My face still aches a little from the laughter. Of course, we had to call Renee (Leslie) Buckhoff so I could rub it in that I was hanging out with Regina! (Wish you could have been there, Renee!)
So, should you learn anything at all about me, it’s likely to be this: If you knew me at any point in my life, there’s a VERY good chance that your phone will ring one day and I’ll be on the other end! I love those reconnections; those threads running back through my life. Everybody has a story and I like keeping mine alive.
Hence the John Prine song I quoted at the start of this blog. Souvenirs. It’s the experiences we pick up along life’s journey that make it so rich. All of the ‘heart scars’ and ‘character-building’ that we go through makes us unique. All of that stuff informs who we are today. And I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
Thanks for stopping by.
Take care, hug your loved ones, and call an old friend today. Tell’em Hayseed sent ya!
Hayseed