Kenny Rogers Concert

So -- how did a young, hip, happening chick like me end up in Bloomington, Illinois at a very geriatric Kenny Rogers Christmas Concert??

Serendipity. You've gotta love it...

Here's what happened....

I was SUPPOSED to drive to Chicago that morning. I was really looking forward to attending the exciting One-Of-A-Kind Show at the Merchandise Mart (more about that later), but I was struggling with a stomach bug....I decided the night before that me driving to Chicago was not a good plan.

At Noon, my sister Deena called and said she and Nicole (our niece) were driving to Bloomington to see Kenny Rogers. Nicole has a strange obsession with Kenny Rogers. (she calls him her boyfriend). Deena checked online and there were MANY tickets available (shocking, eh?). Nicole works at a bank, and it's a two hour drive...so we'll have to eat in the car...we'll buy tickets at the door.... c'mon...LET'S JUST GO....

I told Deena I wasn't feeling well. She said Nicole would do the driving...I could take a nap in the back seat...I took a pass....

Kenny Rogers was my Mom's favorite singer. I smiled when I remembered how, in 1994, Mom bought tickets for all of her girls -- and we drove down to Peoria (six of us packed in her Cadillac) to see his Christmas concert. He was amazing. We had such a wonderful time.

Mom died two years later....

Life is like that. None of us could know on that day that the six of us would never again be in a car together. Ever.

In 1994, Mom was 65 years old. The same age I am now. Yikes.

I called Deena back -- and the three of us drove down to Bloomington.

Nicole was, of course, the youngest person in the room.  AND if it hadn't been for HER -- Deena would have been!

The years have not been kind to Kenny. He is very thin and frail.  His lead guitarist's big job is making sure the stool is behind Kenny at all times... And he really cannot sing. But we didn't care. They could have played his CD's (and maybe they SHOULD HAVE)...

We had a wonderful, terrific, memorable, great time that night.

We bought seats in the second row!!  ($47 each)  It wasn't exactly a sold-out crowd.

Linda Davis is touring with Kenny. Did you know her daughter is the lead singer in Lady Antebellum?

Maybe it was the five glorious hours in Nicole's van...driving down and back. We caught up with each other's lives...and we talked about everything under the sun. The frustrations of the holidays and our respective people.  We laughed...and talked about the old days...and discovered some nowadays things we did not know.

The three of us had THAT kind of visit -- the kind that only happens during a road trip...

Keep up the good work, Kenny. It can't be easy -- but I'm glad you are still touring!!