Month: June 2018

Nashville – Part Three – Grand Ole Opry

/ lifesloosethreads / Leave a comment

A visit to Nashville would not be complete without a visit to the Grand Ole Opry. Trust me! Even if you are not a country music fan … and I don’t know why you wouldn’t be … attending a show at the Grand Ole Opry is … well … you just have to go and see for yourself.

Touted to be the home of country, bluegrass and gospel music, I didn’t know it was also the largest radio broadcasting studio in the world. The Opry shows have been broadcast live since 1925. Folks … that is approaching 100 years. The show’s announcer with the golden voice, Eddie Stubbs, even inserts radio commercials between acts. Shows are performed on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday evenings.

The Grand Ole Opry was nothing like what I imagined. First, the Opry complex, which includes a hotel and shopping mall, is about 20 minutes from downtown Nashville … and just a short Uber ride away. Our Uber driver told us the mall actually used to be a waterpark but they tore it down and built the shopping mall. The Opry moved from the downtown Ryman Auditorium in 1974, where performances had been held since 1943. The current venue has a capacity of 4,400 seats. Since we purchased our tickets the night before, we sat in the nosebleed section! Not a complaint. Another interesting tidbit … the seats are actually long upholstered benches instead of individual seats. It felt like we were sitting with family members.

The format of the Opry shows is divided into four one-half hour segments. The format also lent itself time for occasional short radio commercials. Each 30-minute show had three or four performers. The night Katie and I attended we saw performers/groups like Larry Gatlin, John Conlee, Riders in the Sky, Ricky Skaggs and the Opry Square Dancers to name a few. Charlie Nagatani was also in attendance as an Asian cowboy singer and entertaining. I think it might have been his first performance, but don’t quote me on that.

We also purchased the Post-Show Backstage Tour held right after the show … because that is how we roll. We are curious people that love to know what goes on behind the scenes. The tour lasted well over an hour. Note to self … if I ever come with hubby to Nashville … don’t do the Backstage Tour. It would have been way too long for the dude!

So the tour included getting to stand on the famous wooden circle on the stage where so many legendary singers have performed. We were also treated to peeking into the 18-themed dressing rooms and private VIP areas. I loved the large guitar music picks on the floor noting the dressing room numbers. A quick walk past a wall filled with the nameplates of Grand Ole Opry members was also in the cue. The highlight for me was the video featuring Darius Rucker. It showed Rucker being invited to join the Opry in 2012 by Brad Paisley during an Opry performance.

Next post … our favorite Nashville museums!

A cancer story – it is Survivor’s Week at MDA

/ lifesloosethreads / 3 Comments


This week is “Survivor’s Week” at MD Anderson. When MDA social media asked if they could hang a banner of Rick on their skybridge, I immediately said, “yes.” There are lots of smiling faces hanging from banners there this week. Yesterday, I had to see Rick’s banner in person to see if it was real. He is located about halfway down the skybridge. Little did social media know the significance of the request and our connection with the skybridge.

Katie, our number one daughter who works at the Houston Zoo, met me for lunch to celebrate at the Rotary House restaurant. I wanted to introduce her to a spot her dad and I have hung out at for a good meal during our many MDA visits.

Many of our family members have been so helpful and supportive through this journey. But Katie has been my rock, actually more like a boulder, for so much of the journey from initial appointments, to surgery day, spending the night with her dad in the hospital, and walking last year’s MDA Boot Walk. Unfortunately, cancer affects not just the patient but family members, friends and co-workers. Rick has been blessed with support from too many to count.

It was over two years ago Rick was diagnosed with Stage IV Kidney Cancer at MDA. There have been plenty of opportunities for us to travel across their skybridge, which connects their main building with the buildings across the street. We spend most of our time at the May’s Clinic but frequent the Main Building for testing and other doctor visits. I can’t recall the exact number of steps over the skybridge, but it is quite a hike.

In the beginning of his cancer journey, I pushed Rick in one of MDA’s many available wheelchairs across the skybridge. After he was accepted into an immunotherapy clinical trial, Rick started receiving immunotherapy infusions. I think it was after the third infusion about six weeks later, we rode the oversized golf cart from one side to the other. Rick walked the rest of the way holding onto my arm to testing appointments. Did you know MDA provides golf cart rides back and forth over the skybridge all day long to those that can’t walk it?

Fast forward a tad. It wasn’t long until we were actually walking it together … slowly at first. Then last year, about this very time, we noticed the banners on the skybridge.

“You know … someday your picture is going to be hanging up there don’t you?” I said.

I like to think Rick, and all the others hanging out on the skybridge this week, are there to put a face on cancer and that cures are indeed possible.