And the Award Goes to......

Fess Up. Who all watched the Academy of Country Music Awards tonight??

I used to not like country music. I take that back. I can't be lying on the blog. I hated country music. I hated the depressing, whiny, drawling songs that I thought were country music. I would always laugh at the jokes.. you know.. "What happens if you play a country song backwards? Your dog comes back to life, your truck gets fixed, your wife comes back..." blah blah blah. I wouldn't even listen to it. When people asked me what kind of music I liked, I would tell them.. Oh I like most everything. Except heavy metal, rap and country music. (Kenny Rogers didn't count. I've loved Kenny since I was a little girl).

Then in early spring of 2002 the boy lost his job. The dot.bomb company he was working for finally realized that they weren't making any money and closed their doors. And suddenly he was home, in my space. And even though it came with all kinds of stress and worry and no sleeping.. I enjoyed him being home. We'd never had together time like in the 9 years we'd been together as a couple, before and after marriage. I learned some things about him that I didn't know. For instance, when starting a big home project, "oh this will be easy" is boy-eese for "this is going to be a huge frikken disaster that will take 4 times longer, cost twice as much and make a huge damn mess."


And also: He liked country music. This came as a surprise to me. He never used to like country music. When did this start? I would roll my eyes and give him crap, and he wouldn't say anything. Then we'd be driving in the car, and he'd put on his fav. country station.. and after some grief.. I'd find that I did like some of the songs. So I said to him one day, "You know, this crap isn't half bad." And he laughed right out loud. Seems the country music I remembered was the "old school" version. Seems that while I wasn't looking.. country music got cool. Who knew? And after a while, I found myself singing along!! Turns out that the Dixie Chicks did some song called Goodbye Earl, and that was what got him hooked on country music. It wasn't long before Ms. Thang got on board the country train, and it became a frequent player in our house.

I admit. I still change the channel when they play that "old school" stuff. I just can't get on board that train. But Kenney Chesney, Trace Atkins, Montgomery Gentry, Toby Keith, Rascal Flatts... Ooohheyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy baby. I'm all over that. I listen to country music as much as, if not more than mainstream music. What can I say. I must be getting old. Although, when I was 18 or so, I had the most kick arse pair of cowboy boots ever. I wore those things out. They were in such bad shape I couldn't even have them resoled. I guess I've always been a country girl at heart. That could explain why I feel so at home out here in the land of cows and tress.

And if you watched.. OMG did you not just love that Vince Gill brought that gorgeous little girl up on the stage and gave her his award?!?!?! That was about the best thing I've ever seen. It's all about the love baby... that and the Badonkadonk.