BOO!!!! IT'S HALLOWEEN!!

Well - last night was the best night of Ryan's life and maybe the best night of his life - it was totally awesome.

Ryan was selected by the Blount County Sports Hall of Fame as the Special Olympian Athlete of the Year for 2006.  I cannot begin to tell you what this has meant to him.  He was so excited and so proud.

The BCSHOF inducted 10 people last night.  Ryan was the first to be honored.  We had talked about his acceptance speech and he decided what he wanted to say and I typed it out for him and put it on an index card for him to read.  Bless his heart - his voice quivered as he read it but he read it slow and pronounced his words and did a great job.  When he finished he received a STANDING OVATION - the ONLY one of the night.  There were over 400 people at the banquet and a LOT of them knew Ryan.  He received a lovely plaque and was just beaming when he left the platform.  My brother and sister-in-law were there and that made the night very special.  I did get some pictures and plan to post them here when I figure out how to print them off.

AND we (my boss, my boss's wife and I) have decided to move our office - a BIG undertaking.  The people in the front offices of our building have built a new building about 4 miles "down the road" and they invited us to move with them.  Now I have become very attached to these people - they are super nice and I just love them all.  We plan to be out of our old building by Dec 15.  I'm looking forward to it but so dreading the move.  The good news is we will be VERY close to the BRAND NEW SUPER WAL-MART being built in west Maryville AND just a stone's throw from my favorite Italian restaurant.  AND they are planning on building a new shopping center right across the road - so we will survive.

If we weren't moving with them, I would be in a MASSIVE depression - and I go through a depression every winter anyway - and this would have made it almost unbearable.

So - now all I have to do is "prepare the office to move" - God help me - I know He will.

More on this later

Peace.

THIS IS MY TOWN

There is wonderful country song that has been out for awhile - not sure who sings it but he talk about "this is my town" and how it is.

Well - Maryville is "my town" and the more I think about it - the better I like it.  It is a small town compared to places like Orlando, New York, Dallas, L.A., etc. but it is really "big" on other things.

This past weekend was the "Foothills Fall Festival" a yearly occurance now for the past 6 years.  It begins on Friday afternoon and ends on Sunday nights.  It is three days of music, fun, food and relaxation....to a point (more about the relaxation later).

Tickets for general admission is $35 for all three days.  For that this year we got to see Clay Walker, Little Big Town, Deanna Carter, Andy Griggs, the Wreckers, Buddy Guy, and Randy Travis and a lot more "local" talent.  Well worth the money.

General admission means it is a first come, first serve on seating - it's a big open park, you bring you chairs, and when it is 30 degree you bring heavy coats and blankets.  There is a "reserved" section that this year for the first time took over the entire center section from the stage to the sound booth.  Us "cheapers" got the sides and the back forty to sit in....which means if you want the side area (which are really good seats to see everything) you want to be one of the first 20 people to be in line.  Now for the uninformed, there may be only five people in front of you, but each of those five people are carrying 10 chairs for other members of their family and friends....get the drift??

Now Friday was no problem.  I got the day off because the court house was closed (no place for employees to park so what the heck - close it!). Gates opened at 5:00 p.m. with the first concert at 6:00.  I took my chair and plopped down about 15 people back at noon.  It was chilly but not too bad.  My friend Annette got there about 2:00 and we sat, and read, talked and "people watched".  Gates opened and it was a mad stampeed as everyone scattered and began throwing lawn chairs everywhere.  We managed to get about 6 rows back on the side which were good seats for Friday. 

Now Clay Walker was on Saturday night and I knew that it was going to be a challenge to get good seats for that so, old and stupid person that I am, I decided I was going to be one of the first five people in that gate on Saturday morning.  Gates opened at 11:00 a.m.  I got there at 4:30 a.m. - yes - you read it right - 4:30 a.m.  Believe it or not, there were four people already there.  Two had spent the night there and the other two had arrived just minutes before me.  We comisserated on our stupidity, they went back to sleep, and I proceeded to fix my chair and Annette's, button up my heavy coat, put on my hood, my earphones for my radio, mummify myself in my blanket and settled in to wait.  At about 8:30 Annette show up with a hot breakfast and I left our chairs and joined her in her nice warm car to eat and defrost.

Gates opened and we got in the 3rd row on the side - really great seats and proceeded to enjoy the day.  We took the shuttle up to the craft area and then had lunch and waited for the entertainment to begin.  Clay Walker was wonderful - I could just sit and look at him all night.  It was COLD.

Sunday we decided that we didn't worry too much about getting good seats and didn't get in line until 8:30.  The line was considerably longer because we had come later but we still ended up with fairly good seats for Randy Travis.  We had a wonderful weekend.

Unfortunately, I'm not as young as I used to be and I need to face the facts that I can't do the things I used to do.  The advantage of having "reserved seating" is obvious...you have the same seat for all three days and the seats are in the middle section.  The disadvantage is the price - $75 vs. $35.  Annette and I talked about it and depending on who is coming next year we have decided to save up and get reserved seating.  That way all we have to bring is our blanket/lap robe, perhaps a cushion to sit upon and our backpacks with our books, cards, etc. that we use to pass the time between acts.  Also, we can get there anytime we darn well please - no more lugging the chairs and rushing to get them set up and waiting in line forever.  NO MORE 4:30 A.M.!

So....next August when the line up is announced, and reserved seating is offered - we will do it!  Already something to look forward to.

By the way - do you realize that having something to look forward to can get you through some rough times and unpleasant things?  Right now I am looking forward to having my weekends off starting next month, and then of course being closing for Thanksgiving, and then there is being closed for Christmas and Christmas itself.  I always try to find SOMETHING to look forward too.... it works.

Peace