True story.

Right before Christmas I flew to Nashville with my hub for a business trip. While he took the rental car to his appointments, I took the shuttle to our hotel. One of the best things about being in the south is that strangers carry on conversations.

Anywhere. Anytime.

I love that. I have missed that in Maryland these past 37 years, where strangers are HIGHLY RELUCTANT to engage in the briefest of exchanges.

The sweetest guy drove the shuttle, and this was our conversation:

Guy: Hey, good morning!

Me: Hey, how are you?

(In the south we greet each other with “Hey”.)

Guy: Welcome to Nashville. Where did you come in from?

Me: Baltimore

Guy: Is this your first time in Nashville?

Me: No, but it’s been a long time and I’m happy to be back. My husband and I are going to the Ryman to see Vince and Amy tonight.

 (Classic southern oversharing.)

Guy: Do you like country music?

Me: I sure do!

Guy: Well, listen, me and the wife have a video on YouTube of a song we wrote called, “The Woman Who Prayed a Man Out of Me.” I’d appreciate it if you’d check us out sometime.

Me: (As I am pulling up the notes section on my phone) Can you say that again, so I get the words right?

Guy: Sure, it’s called “The Woman Who Prayed a Man Out of Me.”

You can not make this stuff up.

At this point I have two things I’m struggling with:

1. The overwhelming urge not to laugh
2. How can I ever tell this correctly?

Me: Well, that’s an interesting title.

Guy: It’s my testimony, cause I used to be a not so nice guy, but she stayed with me and prayed that I would change and I did.

Me: Well thats really great. I’ll look it up when I get on to the hotel WiFi.

Here is the link to his YouTube video, check it out:

By that time we had arrived at the hotel and our meeting was over. I started counting the hours till my hub got to the hotel and I could tell him this story. But he never gets as tickled about these things as I do, so I did the next best thing:

I called my sisters.

They gave me the reaction I was looking for and we all agreed that Nashville does live up to all the hype of struggling country singers everywhere you go.

Later that night, my husband and I had dinner at Merchants (highly recommend the duck fat tater tots) and walked around Broadway looking and listening at all the honkeytonks. Every group that we heard spilling out of the doors of those clubs was good enough to be on the CMA Awards show. Even the bands playing the 6:00pm spots. The better bands were supposedly later in the evening.

On our walk to the Ryman we stopped and did some boot shopping, because if you’re going to spend time in Nashville, you gotta have cool boots. It was hard to stay in those stores too long because the music beckoned us back out to the streets.

The Ryman was everything we had hoped it would be. Hearing Vince and Amy sing the Christmas songs we have loved for so long was magical. Especially Tennessee Christmas, my hub’s favorite.

Bucket list kinda night.

When we came out the street performers were on every corner as we walked to our car. All of them…sounded good enough to be on the CMA Awards show.

I started wondering…if everyone in Nashville sings good enough for the CMA Awards show-how will I ever sing loud in church?

Guess we’ll find out!

Blessings,

Stephanie