“Sing me songs, you know, will make me smile, make me smile”
The year is 1993. Larry and Shannon live in their first official apartment together. They are 22 years old; Larry will be 23 soon. They are currently on separate shifts due to work opportunities for both of them. They have no landline in their apartment because they are 22 and broke and cell phones were not something everyone had at the time. So, they have to communicate with each other with notes and music. We had a note from a Sister Havana write up earlier. This is from a note Larry left in my car telling me what song to listen to on the long drive home. Ok, so the drive was literally right across the street from work but because it was second shift and all three buildings let out at the same time it could take 20 minutes or more to just drive across the street.
All these years later I am so glad I kept all these little notes and such from over the years. It is a fun reminder of how young and in love we were. It also reminds me how young and stupid we were.
You will only ever hear me say this once - and strictly about this - if Lord of the Dance and Rush were in Columbus on the same night I would have a hard time choosing which one to attend - seriously. I know that as soon as Shannon and I left this performance in 1997 I uttered those exact words.
So let's rewind to 1997. As a reminder Gabriel was born in 1994 and Connor in 1995 - so essentially we had two and three year olds. Earlier we thought we were broke - by this point we knew we were broke. Diapers and formula and etc. etc. were never-freaking ending.
Apparently Shannon was a much better organized parent than me, because while I was at work and she was home (again - we worked opposite shifts to avoid childcare) she not was only able to care of our sons and take care of our home, she found time to watch PBS - which was constantly showing Riverdance and Lord of the Dance. These were all the rage.
When she was at work and I was home with the boys - let's just say I did the best I could to make sure we all made it to the next day. No PBS for me.
Shannon loved watching these, so when I heard Lord of the Dance was coming to Columbus, I knew I had to figure out a way to get to the show.
Using the TLDR process: I borrowed money from my parents, arranged for someone to babysit and surprised Shannon with a night on the town. At this point in marriage / parenthood we needed it.
So I'll repeat what I said in the beginning. I was blown away. The music was fantastic, the story was fantastic but most of all - the precision was fantastic. As a percussionist - I live for that. I know I went back to work and talked about this for quite a while.
This is truly one of those experiences I was thankful that I was able to attend.
P.S. Regarding the other song and note - little did Shannon know my definition of "a little while" would be greater than 32 years...
Ghost of a Chance 