I’m not a huge concert going, and I’m not a big country music fan, but I can appreciate good music and entertainers when I see them. So when my sister asked if my mom and I wanted to go to Vegas for a weekend, I jumped at the chance. I’m not much of a Vegas person either, but how many times will I get to go to Vegas with my mom? We’d see Cirque de Soleil’s O and Garth Brooks.

There was history with Garth.

He opened for Charlie Daniels at the Macoupin County Fair in my hometown around the time he won Entertainer of the Year for the first time. It was quite a concert. My dad usually met the entertainers since he was on the fair board. He saw them as any other person but it was always a highlight. Pretty much everything I know about country music goes back to my mom and dad’s love for it.

When my dad passed away nine years ago, we chose a lot of music to play through what we knew would be a long visitation. She wanted Garth’s The River, but it wasn’t available.

And I will sail my vessel
‘Til the river runs dry
Like a bird upon the wind
These waters are my sky
I’ll never reach my destination
If I never try
So I will sail my vessel
‘Til the river runs dry

It was the song she decided she would request if she got the chance at the concert, since it’s a loose play list interspersed with requests and interactions. She didn’t get the chance, but…

Mom was close enough to touch the stage (and Garth, although we’d been sternly told that wasn’t allowed). When Garth started singing Much Too Young to be This Damn Old, he walked over to sing the chorus to mom.

And the white line’s getting longer and the saddle’s getting cold
I’m much too young to feel this damn old
All my cards are on the table with no ace left in the hole
I’m much too young to feel this damn old

Then The River followed. Tears. It was bittersweet. I had just been watching mom enjoy herself at a concert that was a bit of a full circle moment, then Garth had to add in The River.

I caught my breath and enjoyed the remainder of the concert. At the end, we knew he’d come out for an encore since he hadn’t sung Friends in Low Places, but the crowd continued to cheer and chant, and the concert went into a whole new phase with a wide variety of country music classics. When he broke into the third bittersweet song for our family, You Never Even Called Me by My Name, we looked at each other in disbelief. This one made us laugh, because it was the one we used to sing over the CB radios when traveling with friends. It popped up throughout our lives, always accompanied by laughs, including a light-hearted moment at the beginning of dad’s funeral.

We were physically and emotionally spent at the end of the concert, but it was worth it. One more memory together to add to our collection.