By Vicki Scott
What a weekend! Saturday, July 25 was the day we were to celebrate my darling and patient husband Alan’s birthday. I planned to get our children and grandchildren together at our lake house on Lake Martin. I forgot that my hubby already had bought tickets to a concert in Chattanooga. When reminded, I confessed my plans and proceeded to call everyone and cancel. After the cancellation, our daughter planned one of the best birthdays presents she could give to her daddy – she loaded up her two girls and drove up for a birthday visit and spent the night.
Shortly after I returned home from work at George Wallace Senior Center in Glencoe, I found an excited daddy waiting on the porch for our daughter Eva and her children. She arrived around 5 p.m. on Friday afternoon along with a pair of tornadoes named Tyler Kate and Saylor Rhea. Eva looked tired but still beautiful with her blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Our house looked like a tornado touched down in a split second after the grands entered. I did not care.
After hugging and squeezing and making up for lost time, Saylor Rhea wanted to walk Sandy, our border collie that looks like a yellow lab. Reba, the border collie that looks like a border collie, heard the word “walk” and ran to hide under the shed.
Sandy was excited as we took her for a walk. In the past, our little tornadoes made the dogs nervous, but Sandy now has a different perspective – she thought that she was one of them! They ate, she ate. They came insid,; she came inside. They went to get something out of the car, Sandy ate the food from the car. Sandy had so much fun!
Eva went for a run on Saturday morning and wanted me to go with her. There are two times you might see me run: to catch the mail carrier with my Amazon package and to save one of my grandchildren. I hate to have to wait until the next day to get my packages at the post office. I have been known to run to my car and scan the neighborhood for the postal Jeep. I sometimes think the mail carriers watch for me to come out and then ease forward as if they are going to leave to see me run. This is sad. If a cop or robber were after me, I would be caught. An Amazon package, however, will make me run. Our grandchildren and their safety need no explanation.
After her run and some breakfast, Eva headed back to Montgomery, taking the tornado remnants with her. I cried. It has been too long. However, they did leave me with one happy birthday daddy!
Our age was telling on us as we prepared to go to see Mo’ Pitney at the Songbirds Guitar Museum in Chattanooga. I slept most of the way there, but I’m sure Alan enjoyed the quiet. After we arrived incredibly early, we met some friendly people. We looked around until the doors opened, at which point we threw our Back-Row Baptist ways out the door and found seats front and center of the stage.
Tyson Laeman played first, and they were unbelievable! Tyson sang “Midnight Rider” by the Allman Brothers Band and nailed it! My blood was pumping! It did not even bother me that the VIP group next to us had been celebrating all day. Alan and I did not think they would make it through the whole concert. There might have been alcohol involved. Then it happened.
The singer/songwriter shared his testimony. He had been sober for several years and written songs from both sides. He explained what was going on at the time he wrote each one of his songs. He was not labeled as a Christian singer, but he had quite a testimony! He and his friend who played the guitar were two of the friendly people we had met before the show. I wish I had known who they were when we met them, but it probably would not have mattered.
I had no idea who Mo’ Pitney was. The kid was younger than my baby boy but sang like Merle Haggard. We recently saw Merle’s son Marty in concert, and Mo’ reminded me of Marty in his singing techniques and mannerisms. They both are very skinny, sing Merle Haggard songs and shared their personal testimony. Johnny Cash touched Merle Haggard’s life while singing country music in prison. These two guys are touching lives singing country music in bars or wherever the Lord leads them.
The extremely young, Merle Haggard-inspired singer/songwriter wrote a song about his daughter. It talks about how much he loves hearing his blonde-haired, blue-eyed baby girl’s feet running toward him. I almost cried; okay, maybe not “almost.” I hope Mr. Pitney realizes that love does not change when those baby girls grow up.
That night, while discussing the blessings of the day, I found a post on Instagram made by our daughter and showed it to Alan. Eva was swinging outside videoing her birthday daddy while playing “Soul Shine” by the Allman Brothers. Our baby girl made his soul shine. Alan informed me that his birth certificate made a mistake and that his birthday is really July 26. That is a lie.
Happy Birthday to the man who makes my soul shine! There goes my blood pumping again!