Two more days

Two days until the Amy Grant concert. Two days. And I’ve barely said a word to anyone about it. I believe this is called personal growth.

For some unknown reason, the show is being held at an outdoor amphitheater. Y’all, why would anyone think it’s a good idea to hold a concert outdoors in Atlanta in July?! It’s going to be a zillion degrees and I am going to die of sweat. I will not be glistening; I will be melting.

The fun thing about the theater, though, is that’s where Sean and I had our first date. June 19, 1989. Sean was given tickets by his new boss to celebrate graduating from college and being hired by GM. We saw Dave Brubeck, I think. I know it was hot then, too.

AG opens the show with, “Stay for A While,” which is apropos considering it’s a reunion show. I’ve loved that song since it came out in 1986. It was released that summer, but I was in Portugal on a mission trip. My dear friend Andy sent me a cassette tape of The Collection, and even though I couldn’t listen to it (the mission organization didn’t let us have outside music – if the song wasn’t in the official songbook, we weren’t going to sing it), the words were printed on the cover; I knew them all by the time I got home. 

Andy was a good friend. Appropriately enough, we met at an Amy Grant concert – another outdoor show, but it was early June so not quite as steamy. And I was only 14 so what did I care about the heat? The show was at Six Flags and we were the first two people in line; it was general admission and we both showed up eight hours before the gate opened. We’d each come with other people who actually rode the rides while we camped out, waiting to get the best seats. (Now, that’s the kind of camping I can get behind.) You can cover a lot of conversational ground in eight hours. We were dear friends for years. College came and we lost touch; I always think of him when I go to an AG event.

I wonder how many people I’d still be in touch with if Facebook had been around when I was young? Like Eleanor from Girl Scout camp - what's she up to now? And where in the world is Kristi, my best friend from 5^th grade?

Anyway, on Friday night, you can think of me, sweating, dying of heat stroke. I’m sure it’s going to be a pretty sight. I'm just counting on the music to make it all okay. Maybe it'll be like 1984 and I won't even notice the heat. Um, probably not, but a girl can hope!