She got carried away...

She was distracted…I was too!

We arrived about an hour early for the singer/songwriter show that evening. My son met up with the other musicians and I took my seat as close to the front as I could get. This was a familiar venue very close to the state line between Alabama and Florida.

My eyes were drawn to a woman sitting at a nearby table. She was wearing a pretty mint green summer dress with a yellow sash. She looked to be in her early forties, with blonde hair, which was held back away from her face with a matching green barrette. I watched as she dug frantically in her purse in search of something. Whatever it was that she needed in there was very important to her. I realize now that I must have stared way too long at her, but she never looked up to see me as I watched her.

Someone called my name at that moment and I jerked my head around to see who it could be. It was an old friend walking rapidly towards me with outstretched arms and a great big grin. She gripped me with a tight squeeze, so tight that I felt my glasses pushing away from my face as we continued to hug. I loved seeing her again and filling those  missing holes since we had last seen each other. We had texted for a while after retiring, but as time passed we both were busy with our lives; so contact was less frequent and had trickled down to comments on our Facebook pages.

When the show was about to begin, she took her seat and I sat back down next to my friends. It was at that point, my eyes immediately jumped back to the frantic lady who had been rifling through her purse earlier. I was surprised to see that she was still searching and at this point, her brow was furled and her face was scrunched up with what looked like fear or frustration. She looked up at me and our eyes locked; this embarrassed me because I felt like I had been glaring at her much longer than normal courtesy would tolerate. I offered an awkward smile and immediately looked away.

We had all gathered to hear live, original music by a group of songwriters. My son was one of them and there were two other musicians I had heard before. The fourth one was someone unfamiliar to me, but I was certain she would be wonderful.

A man grabbed a microphone as he hopped up on the stage and began the show. He was a middle aged guy who reminded me of Clint Eastwood; he wore a serious expression on his face yet he seemed confident and had lots of energy. There was no doubt in anyone’s mind that he was happy to be there.

As he spoke of the talented people who would be performing tonight and of their accomplishments up to this point in time; out of the corner of my eye I could still see her. It was the woman who was tearing her purse apart in search of “something” that was just not there. At this point I was concerned about her sanity.

It was a listening room type of venue, so when the musicians began, all attention was directed to the stage. As I pleasantly drifted into the story being told by the lyrics in the first song, my mind drifted away from all other thoughts and was floating in the clouds this musician had so brilliantly painted with his words. Songs really touch my soul and often have a healing effect like this one did.  The saying “Time flies when you are having fun!” is certainly true. Every minute of that first set was so good that it was over before I was ready.

I stood up as most did, we mingled and meandered, some got fresh drinks from the bar in the back of the room, while others walked outside to smoke and a few remained seated. I looked up at the stage and my son mouthed the words “Do you need anything?” I smiled back and shook my head, “no”.

As my friend and I stood there sipping a cup of coffee, I could see out of the corner of my eye, someone was approaching me. She said, “Excuse me.” I turned and at this point I was looking directly into the face of the lady who had been digging in her purse all evening. I greeted her and introduced myself. I could see the tension leaving her and the once wrinkled brow smoothed itself as I looked on. She hesitated, then she spoke. “I understand you are Eric Erdman’s mother, is that right?” I nodded and confirmed she was right. She said, “I have never met him but I heard a song on 92ZEW radio the other day and it touched me deeply. When the song ended, the radio announcer said that is on Eric Erdman’s newest CD and he will be at the songwriter show coming up on Saturday! That is what brought me here.” I hugged her and told her how wonderful that was and I appreciate her sharing her story with me.  Then her frown returned as she explained she had no cash. She had been hunting through her purse and realized she had not brought any cash with her to purchase the CD with this new song she loved. I  walked over to my son’s bag near the stage, pulled out a CD, handed it to her and said, “Enjoy!”  She said “No, I can’t let you do that” as she took it from me. She hugged me again and tears streamed from her eyes. The song she was talking about was “I get carried away”. It is the story of a person who was addicted at one time and a woman’s love had pulled him from that addiction. He now is addicted to her and her love. She told me that is the perfect story of her and her husband. They have been together 8 years now.

I realize I am not the only one that is touched deeply by the lyrics in songs. I believe there is a song that can soothe any emotion, any gap in your heart, if you look for it. Music is the best therapy!