Fill Your Life

I was twelve years old during the summer that the Berlin Wall came down and I made my first trip out of the country.  That summer, my parents put me on a plane (seriously, another world altogether back then) bound for Germany where my best friend and her family were living.    I spent the better part of three weeks hanging out with Liz and touring Germany with her mom and sister.  The soundtrack for that particular road trip?  None other than Garth Brooks.  I am probably the only person ever to leave the US of A and come back a full fledge country music fan but I was hooked.  

My mom was skeptical at best but before you could say "yeeh ha" we were blasting "Thunder Rolls" at obscene levels just because the fake thunder made Kyle cry and Shane and I thought that was hilarious.   I suppose those reasons alone made spending Saturday evening at the Garth Brooks concert so special.  Sharing it with my almost twelve year old and my family.  

There were about six different points when I thought that McKenna and I weren't going to actually make it.  But God works in wonderful ways and definitely worked this one out for us.  

Uncle Shane upgraded our tickets as an early birthday gift for McKenna.  Floor seats, fifteen rows back.  Pretty amazing. 

It's been a long time since I attended a concert with my mom and I'm fairly certain the first time my dad and I have been in the same venue for anything past a high school band concert.  It was fun to experience Garth with them.  

God bless Mckenna, she didn't know the words to any of the songs which is about right since the songs were popular long before she was born.  She said it didn't matter because I knew ALL the words.  True story.   We were both on our feet and all smiles through the entire concert. Girl has stamina! 

I think the thing that struck me most was when Garth commented on the fact that these songs are woven through our lives.  That summed up the entire experience.  Each of the songs he sang had a different memory for me : Germany, Kyle, college, my friend Jen, break-ups, blessings, Earl, road trips,  weddings, my mom and my kids.   Nothing takes you back to certain places in time like music and it was such a rush to remember all of those special times set to music I have always loved. 

On Sunday morning Shane posted some photos of all of us at the concert accompanied by the following quote: "Fill your life with experiences, not things.  Have stories to tell, not stuff to show." I have read that quote no less than a million and one times since Sunday morning.  I can't get it out of my head.  My brother isn't perfect, none of us are.  But if there is one thing that he gets right, it's making memories.   This is one memory all of us will likely never forget.   And who could bring us together like for a night of music and family...only Garth Brooks.