Last night Allen & I drove to Tulsa for the Kings of Leon/Band of Horses concert. Considering these are two of our favorite bands, getting tickets to see them together was a no brainer. It was fun, however, I'm not a fan of arena concerts. They played at the huge BOK center. I enjoy concerts much more in a small venue like Cain's Ballroom in Tulsa. But, this is the down side to bands you've loved for years getting popular.
The other down side is you have to listen to totebags behind you saying stupid things like "that opening band {Band of Horses} was good, but they need a major label and to write a "Use Somebody". Ugh. To me, Band of Horses is no opening band. They are as good as Kings of Leon, just a different style. They sounded great, but only played for 40 minutes. Compare this to the awesome two hour performance they gave at Cain's Ballroom last fall & you understand my disappointment. One thing I love about their performances is they always have a back drop of cool pictures & videos of them.
I have loved Kings of Leon since 2005 and I will always pay to see them when they come to Oklahoma. But last night was the first time I felt disappointed. There were way too many flashing lights & cheesy fireworks. And they didn't seem to bring the energy they have always impressed me with. And what is with the extra guy doing back up? I was happy, however, that they played a good variety of songs, old and new. Including some great classics like "Molly's Chambers", "Four Kicks", "Taper Jean Girl" & "Fans".
Allen & I record Austin City Limits every week. They always seem to have the bands we love & I love the live performance setting. It's also fun to hear the little tidbits about the bands. The other day my Sister told me my Dad loved watching Austin City Limits. I never knew that! It's cool when, at 32 years old, you find out yet another thing you had in common with your Dad {who just happens to be your hero}. I definitely got my love for music from my Dad. I use to email him YouTube clips of my favorite performances. Back then, it was mostly Kings of Leon. Songs like "Trani" & "California Waiting". I wonder what he thought of my music. He never really said. I'm guessing he thought it was weird, like everyone else did. I wish I could still share my favorite songs with him. Instead, I'll share them here, in my little corner of the universe. Here's Band of Horses from this week's Austin City Limits.
October is a month of celebrations for us. October 17th was Allen's birthday and October 20th is our anniversary. I wanted an October wedding because Fall is my absolute favorite time of year. So first off, happy birthday to Allen! He is 33 this year and, I must say, getting better with age.
Second, happy anniversary to us! We've been married 9 years on the 20th. Wow, 9 years! And we dated for 4 years, so 13 years together. We've also been friends since we were kids. We met at the lockers in junior high and stayed close friends all through our school years. He was my best guy friend and my Dad used to say "you know that boy wants to be more than just your friend". And I'd giggle and tell my Dad he was crazy. We had lots of fun times as friends for over 6 years. And then one day in college, I saw him in a new light and everything changed forever. Guess my Dad was right....again.
1996 ~ Seniors in high school & "just friends"
(check out my parent's video recorder!)
October 20, 2001
(Well don't we look young!)
We've done a lot in 13 years. We started off in a tiny little "fixer upper". It was 700 sq feet and I remember our mortgage was $300. I also remember stressing out about making that payment. Money was tight, or maybe we just didn't manage it well. Those were the days of buying what we wanted for ourselves. Those were also the days of napping on Sundays, regular Thursday night hangouts at our local bar with our best friends, and pretty much doing whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted. Simple, but awesome days. Then we moved to a dump. But it was a dump on 5 acres and our plan was to one day, split the land and build a beautiful house and sell the dump. And the planned worked perfectly. We now live in our beautiful house, next to the dump. ;)
In these 13 years, we also had two beautiful kids. Sydney, who looks and acts just like me. And Garrett, who looks and acts just like Allen. It's so funny to see these little people, that are perfect blends of the two of us. And those two little people are our world.
We are also business partners. We started a landscaping/lawn care business 11 years ago. Allen does the fun, creative stuff (and the hard manual labor). I do the boring, business stuff. We are a good team. And that "little" business that could barely bring in enough money to pay the $300 mortgage 9 years ago, now supports our family and allows me to be home with the kids.
But we have also been through two extremely hard things together in these 13 years. First, Allen's best friend since childhood died suddenly in his sleep from heart problems. Not even 30 yet and no warning signs at all. It was a shock to all of us. He left behind a little girl and a pregnant wife. Everyone has that one friend in life. The friend that knows the stories that no one else knows. The friend that you grew up with. The friend that you chose to stand beside you as you got married. The friend that knew you as a child and as a man and everything in between. Everyone needs that person and my heart aches for Allen that he lost that.
And then, 8 months later, my Dad died. Again, it was sudden and unexpected. His health was weak, but we never expected that so soon. He was only 62. But when you're born with a weak heart, you only get so much time on this earth. They were both born with weak hearts and taken too soon. They both loved cars and I imagine them talking about cars together in heaven.
These two experiences catapulted Allen and I into adulthood. We were no longer innocent. We were forever changed. And then I truly understood the vows of marriage. For better or worse... in good times and in bad.
We've built a great life together. We started out as polar opposites. I was extreme type A personality and he was extreme type B. But we've somehow met in the middle now. Sometimes I have to remind him to slow down and have some fun and he has to remind me to be disciplined. Crazy!
We've always had two things in common: 1. Our sense of humor and 2. our love for awesome music. Even as teenagers, we'd drive around and listen to music together. Back then, his favorite was Beastie Boys, my favorite was Led Zeppelin. So for our anniversary we went to see Band of Horses at Cain's Ballroom in Tulsa. I love Cain's Ballroom! Lately, I'm loving "Older" by Band of Horses. It makes me think of our relationship and how as time goes by, some things in life may change, but we are always each other's constants. So here's to celebrating a great 9 years and looking forward to what the future brings for us. I know one day, when the kids are grown, the house is quiet and world seems to have slowed down for us...we will still be here together, listening to music and daydreaming about all our big plans for the future.
