It was "my" place.
My destination vacation dream.
Then, in 2019, when my husband was retiring in 2020 and he warned me, "DO NOT PLAN ANY PARTIES FOR HIM." I promised I would NOT PLAN ANY PARTIES FOR HIM.
He had told me once something like that, I didn't listen, and boy was he mad.
But. I mean. Retiring. A cop? A K9 cop?
I called one of his friends, my heart thudding like the midnight train that flies by our town every night, and said, "Ok, maybe we just surprise him with a few people at MaGerks. Just a few."
Five minutes later I called back; "Forget it. No one. He'll be mad. Maybe not. But Dude, I will be nervous from now until April 4th of next year. It's not worth the anxiety of wondering if he'll be mad or not!"
He always stressed to me: "If I die in the line of duty, I don't want a big deal made of it!" He didn't like Commendations, trophies, etc. He's just the kind of guy; he does a good job, he knows it, the people that count know it, and that's all that matters.
So.
Imagine my surprise.
When he texts me at work, that "GUESS WHAT? A few of the guys are taking me to Nashville for my retirement."
Nashville huh?
The only reason John even knew of Luke Combs or Morgan Wallen was because I played them!
So, I did the only thing I could do...I bought a ticket to go by myself (flights were super cheap on SouthWest - 49 bucks!). If you can't join them, go later and enjoy! I really only cared about listening to LIVE COUNTRY MUSIC. Not about getting drunk and sloppy (I've had about 30 years of practice at that).
Then Covid happened.
Sigh.
Being stuck together for over a year, John learned much more about Country music than he ever wanted to. Now we had Hardy and Ern in the rotation, and even some Walker Hayes (only if he was feeling really generous!) Our local bars, the kind with juke boxes, also really got to know Morgan, Hardy, and Ern. I'm sure Cross Roads and Skyline couldn't have pushed us out the door fast enough to get us to Nashville!
A few weeks into 2022, prior to Inflation and Heart Attack Gas Prices, Southwest Airlines was having a 59 sale to Nashville. Nonstop. The departure times were perfect. I had a credit I needed to use by the end of the year, and asked John if he'd want to go. He said sure.
We were scheduled to leave on April 5th, Tuesday.
That weekend, call it weather, systems glitches, or what you will, but Southwest cancelled almost half a thousand flights. (They weren't the only airline to do so.)
Maybe Nashville was just not in my cards. And in case they weren't in my cards, we eyed a get out of the house since we have a wonderful dog sitter scheduled, to Jim Thorpe. Been there a thousand times, but what's ONE MORE?
But by Monday, Southwest seemed to get it's propellers spinning, and by Tuesday morning at 7:10 am, we were IN NASHVILLE!
I was so excited to see EVERYTHING COUNTY just as soon as we stepped off the airplane and into airport. There was a SINGER singing in a little cafe!
It was raining, but the wonderful Airbnb we were staying in said we could check in as soon as we landed (AMAZING!!!! I know some Airbnb's dislike the "early" request, and we were pushing it with an 8am arrival, but...WOW!! (Here's the wonderful link for the beautiful Jill and Buds Nashville Airbnb ).
Oh, on top of it all, we took our first Uber ride ever. Yes, we've been living in the dark ages.
After we dropped off our stuff, we headed to Snooze East Nashville . Love the decor. Very vintage! I started the day off with a Bloody Mary and some peppered/maple bacon. Our server had just moved from California (she's be the second transplant from CA we'd meet) and was LOVING Nashville.
So far, so good. And we're just getting started! Stay tuned for Part Two: We discover we are standing next to Dustin Lynch but don't want to be making it obviously that we are standing next to DUSTIN LYNCH.
