railroad wings

I am listening to Patty Griffin’s newest album, children running through, and it is amazing. As always when I listen to her music, I feel I understand what life is about, and it’s sweet, and it’s a little sad, and it’s always beautiful.

Patty is just amazing, which is why I am so excited to be going to her concert this Saturday. A coworker of mine loves Patty’s music just as much as I do, so when she found out she was coming to Arizona, she bought tickets. Her husband can’t go, so I’m going with her instead.

Patty Griffin is one of those artists I would practically DIE to see live. There aren’t many people in that category — Patty Griffin, Emmylou Harris, Nick Drake (he’s dead, so I really would have to die to see him), Alison Krauss. Maybe a couple of others. Bands come and go, but there are some musicians whose voices stay with you. Patty Griffin is definitely one of those.

“All these years along the lights are growing dim
I hear you sing your song in the next room
And as far as I can tell most everything means nothing
Except some things that mean everything”

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what I did yesterday

I attended Enrichment (a gathering of women in my church) and learned that I am not nearly thankful enough for the good life I have and the wonderful experiences I have had. Three women spoke of a Christmas from their past, and I was truly amazed. The bishop’s wife, who looks like a happy grandma, had experiences in her youth that could have permanently ruined her life. But she didn’t let that happen. Anyway, time for me to be grateful for the wonder in my life.

I cleaned my kitchen. For the first time in a long time (I’m embarrassed to say this…), there are not dirty dishes all over the counters. What a wonderful feeling. I also cleaned in my side of the bedroom, but sad to say it is not quite clean enough yet.

I pulled out my guitar and did some playing and singing. My playing was rusty, and I don’t think I have a lot of natural talent on the guitar, but you know what? I don’t care! Playing and singing give me joy, so I’m going to keep doing it. And if at some point in my life I’m blessed to be able to take guitar lessons, hooray! But until then, I’m going to practice and play on my own. And if I get good enough, maybe I’ll give a concert for my family and/or friends. Because music is definitely one of my joys.

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call him the balladeer

Did you know Arizona has an Official State Balladeer? (Evidently Arizona was the first state to have an official state balladeer.) Neither did I. But they do, and John and I got to see him perform last week. His name is Dolan Ellis, and he’s a pretty cool performer. He sings songs about Arizona, and some of them are quite catchy. John and I are still singing one of them.

This performance made me think on my cowboy heritage. I need to spend more time around cowboys (the real ones–wearing a hat and boots doesn’t necessarily make you a cowboy). They seem to know what life is all about.

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missing the one i love

Went on a walk today and listened to the iPod — Iron and Wine, Lion’s mane. The sound and lyrics make me feel sad. Especially when my beloved is flying on an airplane hundreds of miles from here.

and love is the scene i render
when you catch me wide awake
and love is the dream you enter
though i shake & shake & shake you
and love’s the best endeavor
waiting in the lion’s mane
——-

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so happy together

So my husband got me an iPod. How good to me is he?!

It makes me so happy to have music with me whenever I want it. I was listening to music and walking around campus yesterday, and it felt strange, as though I had a life soundtrack following me around. Wouldn’t that be cool?

But it’s making me rethink a few things. I used to think that I would never want to own music without also physically owning a CD with album art and stuff. Now? I think it’s just wasteful and cumbersome to have such a large collection of CDs sitting around.

Also, I just don’t think I need to collect hundreds of books anymore. I love books. But I no longer feel the need to own them. Which is a good thing, because I don’t want to haul around millions of boxes of books for the rest of my life.

Anyway, I’m one small step away from falling asleep at my desk right now. If I could go home, I would. The good news is, I’m not working tomorrow!!

So happy Friday. And have a great weekend.

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nickel creek p.s.

p.s. I meant to add in my last post: We were so close to the stage that I could see that Sean Watkins has a lisp. The venue was standing room only 😦 but I truly enjoyed being so close to the musicians.

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post-concert thoughts.

I meant to give a report on the Andrew Bird & Nickel Creek concert we went to on Wednesday. It was simply amazing. Andrew Bird was the opening act, and John and I had heard some of his songs, but they are NOTHING compared to his performance live. I was in love with his voice from the time that he opened his mouth. I tried to think of a word that could describe what I loved about it, and all I came up with was pure. Andrew Bird’s voice is clear and pure and doesn’t need any backup. But, if you read my husband’s blog, he described all the interesting instruments he used. Amazingly talented man. Wow. Just wow.

Andrew Bird was so amazing and unusual, however, that (in my opinion) he outperformed Nickel Creek, and their show was just a little bit lacking by comparison. And Nickel Creek was very good, don’t get me wrong. Andrew Bird just blew me away and was such a pleasant surprise. I’d see him live again.

Anyway, I was talking to a friend about how lucky I am to have such a thoughtful, perceptive husband who thinks to do something like that for me, and she told me it’s beyond lucky: that I found a rare, wonderful man. I couldn’t agree more; it’s just a little overwhelming to know that someone that good happened to me.

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hands down, my husband is the best

What an interesting weekend we had. I pretty much acted like a jerkface to my husband. Or, as I started saying after we watched part of Elf, I’m a cotton-headed ninny muggins. I tried not to act that way, but the more I tried, the worse it got. I had built up some resentment, and instead of talking about it, I acted not very nice. Yeah, not the best thing to do.

Then at church on Sunday, we had a lesson on forgiveness in Sunday school. John and I are in a “couples” Sunday School class, and it’s an 8-week course on how to be a better spouse. I have really enjoyed it. But anyway, the lesson was on forgiveness, and I realized that I desperately needed forgiveness for the way I had been treating my husband. And I realized that resentment was poisoning me and I needed to stop.

So after church we talked…and talked…and talked. I think it went amazingly well. I’m proud of the way were able to talk about difficult and somewhat painful topics without getting defensive or angry. We’ve worked hard to be able to interact this way. Anyway, from this conversation I learned how much I’ve been hurting my husband by my actions. And I learned what a remarkable and wonderful husband I have. When he understood the concern I had, he hugged me. And then he said something like, “I won’t tell you that things will be better; you will see it in my actions.” I know he means it.

And I mean it too. I felt terrible when I learned how I’ve been hurting my husband, and I don’t want to do that anymore.

To top it all off, at the end of the day, my husband presented me with a card. Our nine-month anniversary is today (yeah!), and the card was a sweet Christmas card that contained an early Christmas/anniversary present: tickets to go see Nickel Creek on Wednesday! I was shocked. First, he noticed that I love Nickel Creek, second he noticed that they were going to be in town. Third, he did something about it! Wow. I felt so loved. He’s the best. Truly.

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