CONCERTS LOST – FRIENDSHIPS RENEWED

Almost a month ago, I ordered tickets online for “The Raconteurs” that were appearing at the Ryman Theater in Nashville, Tennessee. The email confirmation I received, complete with official transaction number, and total paid, said that a follow up email would announce the arrival of my tickets, 48 prior to the event.

I then got online and made hotel reservations within walking distance of the venue, and forgot about it.

The concert was scheduled for Tuesday night (9/30), so since I had not received the tickets I called TicketsNow Monday and asked what was going on. They said that the tickets had been purchased just prior to my purchase, and that they had been trying to get in touch with me. They said they sent two emails with no response. I asked why they hadn’t called me - the number plainly on the purchase order!?

Anyway, the only tickets left were behind columns in the old theater, so I canceled everything, including the hotel.

As an aside, I had told my mother that Judy and I would take her to her long-time friend’s house in Gallatin, Tennessee for the night, while we attended the concert. Sadie has been a friend of the family for hundreds of years…so it seems.

She and mom first met in Sunday school years ago, and became fast friends. When my dad became too sick to work, and retired from TVA with a medical, mom decided to go to work. She decided to become a nurse’s aide. She asked Sadie to go to the classes with her even if she never worked. Sadie agreed, and as it turned out Sadie actually worked longer than mother did!

I say all this to illustrate their bond. They haven’t been able to visit much due to their ages and health, so we decided to go on to Nashville as planned and let them have the day to visit. Judy and I made plans to shop and visit some local attractions, and mom was to call me when she was ready to go home. (Note: Nashville is only a little over a hundred miles away, so a day-trip is easy.)

[PHOTO: Sadie is on the left, mom is on the right, and Sadie’s son Robert is hugged up in the middle.]

They thoroughly enjoyed the day and caught up on all the recent events, and probably shared a tear or two. Mom lost her third husband, Bill, in February of 2006 and Sadie’s husband Robert died in April that year. I overheard Sadie remind mom that the last time they saw each other, over 4 years ago, both men were in wheelchairs. Mom told us later, as people of her generation tend to do, she and Sadie had visited the graveyard where Robert is buried, and then dined at the Cracker Barrel.

When Judy and I left, the first order of business on our mind was food! We watched as all the signs scrolled by, trying to decide what we wanted for a “quick lunch”! I have been craving Chinese food for some time, so when I saw “Peking Chinese Restaurant” I quickly checked the place out. From the outside it appeared the place used to be a Pizza Hut or something, and needed a coat of paint, but there were so many cars parked around the place we knew it must be a local favorite.

It was delicious…as you can see in the photo of the Kung Pao Chicken I had! So, if you are ever in the Lebanon, Tennessee area, look for it!

Judy then wanted to shop at an outlet mall at the Lebanon exit off I-40, so we killed some time and money there!

We actually killed enough time there, that by the time we had toured Cedars of Lebanon State Park, and stopped to take this photo of the Cedarvine Manor, a bed and breakfast, mom was calling. After a five hour visit, she was ready to go home.

When I said goodnight to hear at her door, she hugged me and thanked me again for taking her to see Sadie. “You just don’t know what that meant to me!”

Well, that meant something to me as well.