"I was country, when country wasn't cool..."

I heard that song last night while watching the CMA's and I can't stop singing it.

I was born in Texas. We have a ranch that has been in our family for years, we grew up hunting, fishing, bailing hay, watching big Texas thunderstorms roll in from the front porch. I've helped my dad run cattle through pens, fed a calf with a bottle, caught my first striper (that's a fish, not a misspelled word!) when I was 8, eaten lots of deer meat, dove, etc...

I'm country.
Or Southern.
Or something.

Let's say Southern, for some reason there is a necessary level of sophistication to go along with that. Again, Or something. It might be worth mentioning before I freak some of you out that I AM college educated, have traveled quite a bit (see Greece pic below, with camo pants I might add), love stiletto's, wine, fine dining, etc...but can also load a shotgun or shoot a crossbow. Mkay? Moving on...

My parents were hippies too though, loved themselves some classic rock and roll, smoked cigarettes on the curb at school, long hair, dad with the sideburns, you know "age of aquarius" type of stuff.So, growing up I got it all. Country, southern rock, even a little blues now and then. It's all stuck with me and I'm grateful for the exposure but nothing brings me closer to home than some good ol' country music.

The first song I learned to sing along to was Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers - "Islands in the Stream." Hell yeah - you know what I"m talking about.....(cricket sounds)...uh...right? I know just about every George Jones, Conway Twitty, Roseanne Cash, Charlie Daniels, Willie Nelson, Alabama, Restless Heart, George Strait, The Judds, Reba song out there. From the 80's, 90's, and on into today I know country music. It's part of me and I love it.

Being married to an Italian guy from New York poses quite the combination of musical interests as mentioned in my last post. When we got together he NEVER listened to country. He had that stereotypical twang "my dog ran away, my wife left, shoot my gun, where's my whiskey" idea of what country music was. Since then, well, he's changed a lot. It relaxes him, he says. And, well, he's been around my family now long enough to know he better like it. I'm talking Willie Nelson CD's play on Christmas Eve while my brothers where their camo coveralls around.

Living in a live music capital there is such a variety of music, a lot of alternatives, and haters of country music. At one point in my life I think I would even play down how much I loved it, trying to do the whole 'fit-in' as a freshman nightmare. OMG how exhausting. Moved long past that and last night while watching the CMA's it truly dawned on me that I was country, when country wasn't cool.

Yes, that is a budweiser hat and a coors light in my hand.

Mood

Today I find myself in a mood. A certain mood that I love when I get in, it's neither bad nor extremely good, it's somewhere in between. When I get like this I typically keep to myself more than normal and I listen to music. I used to always turn to music when I needed to reflect, feel, just be. I would use lyrics to describe where I was, what I was feeling, relate, gain a sense of comfort knowing someone else captured my exact moment and put it into words better than I could.

When my husband and I first started dating we would stay up for HOURS drinking wine and listening to a million different songs, old and new, and telling stories as to why they were so important. Me more than him but it was a way of getting to know one another beyond what we had already discovered.

I feel a sense of peace, contentment, just being. I think so many things, LIFE, happen so fast all around when you get a moment to just literally 'be' you should cherish it. My mind and my body seem to hardly allow for that anymore...so today, I take advantage of my mood.

My background music for the day seems to indicate I'm getting into that holiday spirit, and all the love and warmth that comes with.


What's yours?