A Little Bit Country

On our road trip to northeast Nebraska this past weekend, the hubby and I exposed Cruz to one of the finer things in life...which happened to be a country music sing-along to our favorite artist Kenny Chesney.

I grew up on a farm, but in no way was a fan of country music growing up. My dad would flip the station in our pickup truck to country and one or all of us girls would cry and nag until he flipped it back to a pop music station or something equally annoying.  I'm not entirely sure when I started falling for country music...it could've been the many nights spent road tripping in high school with my friends or bartending in college at the local Irish pub which coincidentally played quite a bit of country music or listening (on repeat) to the break-up CD filled with Kenny Chesney and Rascal Flatts that the hubby made for me during our year and a half apart. 


I've since been to many country music concerts and can say that some of the best nights of my life have been during a Kenny Chesney concert. Our group has been to many over the years - the first was at the Qwest Center in Omaha - my cousin & I happened to be in the right place at the right time, because we got our group upgraded to Sandbar passes right along the stage. My favorite Chesney concert was on a group trip to Las Vegas and we saw him at The Joint in the Hard Rock Casino, a 4,000-seat venue where he played for four hours straight - Most. Amazing. Show. Ever.  And one of the most memorable was March 2011, where again he played in Omaha - it was just after we found out I was preggers and hadn't told anyone. I had to strategically pretend to drink the entire night...but even without the alcohol flowing through my system the show was still amazing.


I'm not sure what it is, but a good country music song just puts me in a great mood. I think a big part of it is because you can actually understand every single word of country music and, therefore, easily learn the songs and sign along to them. And there is something about summer that brings out my love for country music in full force. It makes me think of sitting outside, around a fire, drinking a beer and just enjoying life.


So it's only right that on the first day of summer, I pay a little homage to the music genre that I adore so much. Thank you, country music, for getting me through this little thing called life.