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Brian called me while I was on my trip and told me the most awesome story. He got an email from one of his best friends, that he had received from one of HIS friends, whose uncle wrote the following blog. Confusing enough? He told me that C.C. DeVille of Poison has recently become a Christian. I swear, that is the coolest news I have gotten in a while. I had goosebumps and almost started crying. How cool would it be for God to use C.C. to reach all kinds of hearts in that industry? All these men who have literally lived out the “sex, drugs, and rock and roll” lifestyle for years….to turn their lives around and let them know how much God loves them. So exciting! I just had to share.

The blog post is at: Without Wax

Ah, the glory days.  Ripped jeans, knotted t-shirts, and big hair.  I’m sad to say that many of the people I saw last night are still living there.  I am well aware that I don’t, but it was FREAKING WICKED to go visit for a few hours!

A good friend of mine got free tickets to see Poison, Dokken, and Sebastian Bach (Skid Row lead singer) last night, and he invited me to come along.  We are about the only people we respectively know who still enjoy that kind of music.  I truly love it…I still listen to it quite frequently and even have a “hair band heaven” play list on my ipod.  Sebastian was…ok.  I did enjoy rocking out to “Youth Gone Wild” and feeling the irony of not even being close to a youth anymore.  Dokken was a surprise for me.  He still sings really good and I enjoyed them thoroughly.  Poison, well, they have always been my hands-down favorite glam rock band.  I’ve loved them since 1986 when I rushed to the store to buy “Look What the Cat Dragged In.”  This is either the third or fourth time I have seen them, and it was the best show of theirs I’ve seen.  Lots of pyrotechnics, fire, Bret dancing, and C.C. solos.  They also played lots of video, most of which I would rather have not seen (too many half-and fully- naked women), but some of which was clips of their old MTV music videos.  LOVED that!  I stayed up late a time or three to watch me some Headbanger’s Ball back in the day.

So there I was.  Dancing, clapping, singing “Don’t need nothing but a good time, and it don’t get better than this.”  At the moment, it felt true.  How could it get better than that?  Then I cradled my baby boy in my arms this morning after he bumped his head.  THIS is what is better.  Spending every moment with my children and not missing a thing.  Hearing Elijah FINALLY say “Eve oo.”  (I love you.)  Noah’s version was “Ah hadoo.”  Which is funny because “hadoo” also meant “yellow” and “yogurt.”  I so love these children.

I truly enjoyed that concert.  It is so nice to get out and relive the old days for a few hours.  It makes getting back to the present so much sweeter.

By the way, the people still living in the past gave me quite a few laughs.  And reminded me why spandex went out of style! 

This picture of me and Bret was taken after a concert in 2000,  not last night.

Our youth minister is about to start a series on Wednesday nights called “Soundtrack.” I don’t even know for sure what it is about, but the title immediately evokes in me a response of “I want to hear it!” I have had a deep love of music my entire life. I grew up singing in church, in school chorus groups, and even in a singing group outside of school. I also played in band for many years. I always said that if I had to go deaf or blind, I would pick blind, because I don’t know what I would do without music. I can sing so much of what comes on the radio, my husband is amazed sometimes. “How do you know that?” All I can say is “I don’t know.” Hearing a song can immediately raise memories to my mind….certain boys, friends, trips, events, places, times. I have never in my life felt closer to God than when I was listening (or singing) to music. It moves me like nothing else in life can. Songs can make me laugh, smile, cry, and think. They make me want to be better. If your life had a soundtrack, what would be on it? Can you pick a few? Mine would probably take up a whole boxed set! A few I can come up with quickly….”Another One Bites the Dust” by Queen (skating rink, baby!), “”I Won’t Forget You” by Poison, “Hold My Hand” by Hootie and the Blowfish (Brian’s and my song), “No Rain” by Blind Melon, “From Our House to Yours” by Lorrie Morgan, “Love Song for a Savior” and “Work” by Jars of Clay (ok, honestly, LOTS of songs by Jars of Clay, I adore them, but these two speak tremendously to me and about me), “One of these Days” by FFH (One of these days I’ll get to see my Rachie again), “Blank Page” by Shaun Groves (and he’s got a ton of great ones too!). OK, I better stop. That’s a good start.

Let’s suffice it to say I can’t wait to see what Skid has in store for us!

I am in a bit of a fog tonight.  I had a birthmark removed yesterday, and it has caused me quite a bit of soreness today.  I want to go to bed already, even though it’s only 7:50.   I hope whatever I say is vaguely coherent.

I read a quote today, supposedly by Dr. Seuss (you never can tell if stuff is real off the internet, but I still like the quote):   “Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.”  I like that.  I am down on myself a lot, wondering if I acted the wrong way or said the wrong thing.   Maybe I should get this tattooed somewhere…perhaps on my forearm.  So I can read it whenever I start to question myself (you know, like every day).

I’m really trying to come up with something else, but there’s nothing there.  Goooood night, everybody.

I heard a song today that I haven’t heard in a long time…it is an amazing song, and touches me every time I hear it.  It is “Never Been Unloved” by Michael W. Smith:

I have been unfaithful
I have been unworthy
I have been unrighteous
And I have been unmerciful

I have been unreachable
I have been unteachable
I have been unwilling
And I’ve been undesirable

And sometimes I have been unwise
I’ve been undone by what I’m unsure of
But because of you
And all that you went through
I know that I have never been unloved

I have been unbroken
I have been unmended
I have been uneasy
And I’ve been unapprochable

I’ve been unemotional
I’ve been unexceptional
I’ve been undecided
And I have been unqualified

Unaware – I have been unfair
I’ve been unfit for blessings from above
But even I can see
The sacrifice You made for me
To show that I have never been unloved

Unaware – I have been unfair
I’ve been unfit for blessings from above
But even I can see
The sacrifice You made for me
To show that I have never been unloved

It’s because of you
And all that you went through
I know that I have never been unloved

Of all the things I feel like I am not, one thing I definitely am not and have never been….unloved.  And that makes all the bad stuff completely irrelevant.