Happy Birthday Lucy 2012


When His Excellency, Lord Mayor of Provo John Curtis invited me to be his royal guest at the Mayor's Concert Series in downtown Provo this month I knew there was one person I wanted to bring with me: Lucy. Slated to perform were the unstoppable, gospel-growling, four-part harmony slinging OAKRIDGE BOYS.
We took our seats only seconds before the concert began, this wasn't Lucy's fault, she's promptly prompt. For every minute I am late, Lucy is early.
When the lights went dark and an inexplicable synth beat surrounded our ears with a deep echoing of,
"THE BOYS ARE BACK...back...back" we looked at one another and totally relented to the situation. It's not as though we are avid Oakridge Boys fans, but here we were, surrounded by concourses of senior citizens in cowboy hats preparing to watch four former country stars stiffly animate the stage for two hours.
So we gave into it.
We danced, we sang along, we WHOOPed, we whistled, we clapped to the beat and cheered after each performance.
We were pretty much the only ones doing as such.
At one point we were laughing so intensely there was not enough oxygen in the room to save us.
"You are going to be sitting in church one day, and you'll think about us at this concert and you will be uncontrollable," she said to me as I was puffing for air.
When "the boys" ended the evening by rolling out their finest tune, Elvira, we stood up to show our appreciation for the experience. (I am still not sure exactly what the experience was . . .) Several audience members had the inspiration to come over and tell us that we were the best part of the show.
Stop it. Of course we were.
Lucy and I are the best part of any show. That's how we work.
We ended the evening up the street at Sammy's where I made Lucy buy me a shake.
"Thanks for getting me out of the house," she said to me sharing her fries.
Enjoyment is the top of Lucy's list, she likes to get out, be entertained, have fun and have lots of it. We are different this way, I like to stay inside mostly. But this is what Lucy does for me, she invites me to remember I'm here to have joy.

A couple days after the concert Lucy called to say her good friend CJ had been severely injured in an accident. She was so sad, as was Andrew, who considered CJ his best friend. The next day she called again to say CJ had passed away. We talked for awhile about all the good times they had together, which reminded me again, life is terribly short and strangely unpredictable.

And that's why it's nice to have a Lucy around.


*photo Justin Hackworth


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