A Journey back to Nashville

My relationship with Nashville is complicated.

Nashville was supposed to save Cathy but did not.

Our first “dates” with Nashville were full of hope and promise – acceptance into a program and a promising plan by one of the country’s leading oncologists.

I remember one of our early trips - I took Cathy out for BBQ at a famous BBQ joint the night before some clinical pre-requisites. We had a beer that night… It had been so long since she and I had had a drink together.

I have both fond & tormenting memories of that town depending on where I step.

This week I returned to Nashville for the first time since Cathy died.

The trip was 3 friends who shared a special time together…

... If you attended Cathy’s celebration of life in January, I referred to these girls as soldiers 2 and 3. Their names are Terry and Donna and they are my battle buddies.

Why Teddy Swims?

Yeah, he is good. But for us, Teddy Swim’s music and lyrics holds a precious place in our hearts - we each have our own sorrows, and we have the common sorrow of losing Cathy on that sunny January day.

His music is powerful. The pain that reverberates from his lyrics is captivating and pulls the listener in against their own sorrows and heart aches.

You feel your own pain through his notes. It is many things to the ear and mind.

It is a river of emotion that you can bathe in.  

In some strange way – the force of this river allows you to feel the full breadth and width of your pain, your sorrow… your loss…..

But in the midst of this emotion, the songs somehow cleanse you of those demons running around in your mind.  

Yeah, this was a trip about a concert…. But it was more than that.

It was a time to reminisce about good times……. And acknowledge and accept in our own ways the bad.

It was a journey of healing in some little way.

Nashville – you will never be just a town for me. I hate you… and love you at the same time.