The Queen's Rambles

Despite my pregnancy paranoia, we had a great time last night! The hail/sleet/freezing rain stopped and the drive down was much easier than I had anticipated. We managed to plant our butts in our seats about 20 minutes before the show, which was perfect. We found a parking spot right by the venue and pre-paid so we didn’t have to stand in line with 200 other people after the concert. Perfection!

The concert was great, of course! The only low point was Lee Ann Womack. Why was she even a part of the show? I’ve never been a particular fan of hers, but this just clinched it. The woman has zero stage presence or personality. People could barely muster up the enthusiasm to clap after each song. It was one of the most pathetic concerts I’ve been to, and being from a very small home town most of the concerts I’ve been to are pretty pathetic (Beatles cover bands, anyone?)

I’m not fashion forward at all, but during her whole show all I could think was “Oh honey, did your gays really let you out like that?” Perhaps I read too much TLo. I don’t even know if country stars have gays. I’m guessing not, based on the red carpet offerings of the CMA show.

She didn’t even introduce her band. I’ve never been to a show where the singer didn’t introduce/thank the band members. Weird.

Then it was Reba’s turn!

What a difference!

I was worried that the energy was going to be low and boring after Lee Ann’s show and the audience reception, but Reba electrified the crowd. What can I say? She was Reba. She puts on an amazing show. Mike said she knows she’s famous and was milking it for all it was worth, but it didn’t bother me. She is famous. How can she deny that?

The only slightly annoying part was when they brought out one of her co-stars from her Reba sitcom and did a kind of lame little skit. It probably wouldn’t have been lame if you were a fan of the show (the crowd was going wild), but since I wasn’t a fan it was lost on me.

She was on stage for about an hour and a half, which felt like ten minutes. Though I did notice that almost all her songs are about mid-life divorcees. All of George’s songs were about divorce or Texas. Hmmm.

George was also great, though he doesn’t quite put on the same type of show. He stands at the microphone and he sings For an hour and a half. Very little talking. A little bit of foot tapping. Just pure singing.

The stage was set in middle of the arena with a microphone at each corner for him. He’d sing a song at one microphone, then walk to the next corner for the next song. He even commented that we were really making him work hard with all the walking.

I was getting pretty tired and thought he could have used a little more pep, but I was still happy to be there. He and Reba are both as talented as their albums make them out to be. Lee Ann? Not so much. I don’t think she would make it far on American Idol.

The whole thing was a little surreal. I’ve never seen so many red necks gathered in one place. Sure, my whole hometown is one giant red neck magnet, but there’s not a venue big enough to contain them all. Mike was very out of place in his sweater instead of jeans and Western shirt.

Living in this part of the country, diversity surrounds us. It was eerie to be in such a big venue and not see ANY diversity other than the event staff. I was in line for the bathroom for about a half hour and saw hundreds of people walk past me. There were a few Hispanic men in their cowboy gear, one Asian lady and two African-American girls. I was quite concerned about the girls. They were dressed as hookers. I’m not even kidding or exaggerating. I was worried that maybe someone had ordered up a couple of call girls from Craigslist to have a little fun after the concert. It was just strange to be in the middle of Baltimore and be surrounded by so many white red necks *lol*. Where did they all come from? Probably western Maryland.

Poor Erik was not happy with us this morning. Mike picked up him from his sleep over around 9 am. The kid had very little sleep last night from what I understand, so he has been grouchy all day. When he first walked in I asked for a hug and he came over and started punching my hand and giving me a mean face.

After he got over being mad at me for leaving him all night, he clung to me for hours. We are in for a hard, hard transition in April. I wish he knew my mom better. She’ll be here and she and Mike will rotate taking care of him, plus he’ll have preschool and play dates with a friend, but obviously he still needs his mommy. I called the hospital again today to ask if they knew when flu season would be over, but they couldn’t give me an answer. I didn’t think they would, but I was really hoping they would say March.

They also clarified that it is just children under 12 who are not allowed in the hospital, not under 18. Not that it helps me, but I’ve been wondering how they can even enforce such a rule with teen mothers coming in to give birth. Wouldn’t they have to allow their teen boyfriends? Wouldn’t a new teen mother really need the support network of her best friends? But I guess it is a moot point, at least at this hospital.

So there you have it! We’re alive! And in dire need of sleep. I really hope my thoughts don’t continue to be so morbid. When Erik was a baby I was always convinced that I was going to fall over dead and he would be hungry and dirty for hours until Mike found him. I hate thoughts like that. At least I haven’t been having those kind of nightmares lately. Instead, I just dream that I’m cleaning the house. Ugh. What a waste of a good night’s sleep.