Talk about bringing back memories. This was, from left, Rick (my DH), Kevin and Junior today at church; three guys who haven't played together in 25 years.
My classically-trained, guitar-playing, bluegrass-loving guy and I started dating in April, 1981, at college in Lincoln, NE. That summer I worked as a wrangler at a youth camp. One of the staff members there played mandolin, so I introduced him to Rick. Charlie, in turn, introduced Rick to banjo player Kevin. Then they met Junior, another guitar player, and were eventually joined by bass player Bruce. These guys became the Down Home Boys. Due to lack of funds, Junior had to leave college that school year and return home to Hawaii; the group eventually added another guitar player and lost track of Junior. They put on quite a few concerts and went on several small, church-related tours; some of Rick's fondest college memories are of the times he spent with the Down Home Boys. I remember hours spent listening to the guys work on their repetoire and sometimes singing along.
The Down Home Boys continued another year after Rick and I left for vet school, then dissolved. "Real life" scattered everyone and kept them busy for the next 20 years. Then our alma mater invited the Down Home Boys to do a concert for Alumni Weekend, April, 2004. They jumped at the chance, and started dreaming of making reunions a regular occurrence. They got together for another concert in April of 2005 and hope to do more, even though Bruce is now struggling with Parkinson's. For today's mini-reunion, Rick got Kevin to fly up from California and Junior, who shocked us by resurfacing a few years ago here in our neck of the woods, to drive over from Milwaukee (OR) to help him with the praise service. They practiced last night, led the praise service this morning in church, jammed together this afternoon, and will play for both services tomorrow morning at Junior's church. They are having a ball. Being a "music widow" for the weekend is a small price to pay to give my husband this joy!
That's it for now at . . .
2 comments:
That's what a marriage is: sometimes letting the "other person" have a chance to fly with their dreams! What a great opportunity for Rick to soar. The nice thing is you get to bask in his happiness, too. Win-win.
Hugs....
That is fantastic - Nothing better than playing music with old friends - and nothing better than some good old fashioned bluegrass! He looks like he had a very good time, & I'm sure you did too.
Thanks for "stopping by & checking on John" - I'm really glad we didn't shear this weekend - the sheep would have been so cold and he doesn't like to leave a heat lamp in there. :-) T.
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