Emily and I came back from St. Louis yesterday afternoon after playing a couple of shows. It was awesome.
Over the past year or so, the two of us had shared in many road trips and we've got a rhythm going for how the thing goes down. We pack up the car, we fill the travel coffee mugs, we kiss the kids goodbye and we get in my mini-van or sometimes we get in her mini-van. We start driving and start goofing off, making jokes, taking turns playing DJ and share in in-depth conversations on the problems with the the pop Country songs we hear on the radio. Or we gush over how Kasey Musgraves is killing it or we yell at the stereo when a really good song comes on and say, "Geez! Save some for the rest of us!"
We talk about what we're missing back at home, what our husbands are left to manage in our absence and then we get to the gig.
This weekend's gigs were at an awesome art gallery in LaFayette Square called 1900 Park. WE met up with our friends Bryan Ranney and Eric Barnes. They opened the show for us and then, after the show was over, we passed the guitar around and sang songs and admired each other's work. They are such talented songwriters! Eric Barnes is one of my very favorites for his sad understated honesty.
Then we played at Concordia Seminary for the Seminary Womens Association. It was so much fun. It was fun because Emily and I both lived what those women were living. Our husbands went to Seminary, we worked and had babies and were really poor. It was a homecoming and it was like sitting with a bunch of people we'd known for a long time. We walked in the room and ten minutes later we were all old friends and it was great.
Then we drive back. On the way back we're tired and we've given in the craving for fountain drinks and candy. We talk about the good times that were had and then we talk goals. The drive home is for goals and next step planning. We do it every time. I like it. I like re-focusing my energy every few weeks or months- especially since life can pull in so many different directions and get blurry.
So we talked goals. We come up with plans and remember what we're working toward. It's good. We pull into the drive way, we unpack the car, we put stuff in her car, she fills up her water and drives the hour it takes to get to her house. It was a great trip. We saw lots of friends and family, but it's great to be home. Now on to reaching those goals.