Ten years ago on Friday, Adriene and I went on our first date. We went to a Georgia Tech-Duke football game and went out to dinner afterwards. We celebrated our ten year anniversary by … going to a Georgia Tech-Duke football game and going out to dinner afterwards.
Of course, ten years changes a lot. This date to Bobby Dodd Stadium was special because it was the girls’ first football game ever. We had fun taking them downtown to our usual tailgate location and letting them play with some of our friends. I think they were happy to get out and play outside on a beautiful fall morning, too. Realistically, I didn’t expect them to make it past the third quarter, and maybe not even to halftime. Sure enough, around the middle of the third quarter Gracie was ready to leave and made sure we knew, so we made an exit stage right. I think we still managed to see a good portion of the game, at least, so no complaints here. Georgia Tech had a pretty good hold on the game, leading 17-0, by the time we left so we felt okay getting ahead of the traffic.
We took the girls out to my parents’ house and gave them a little bit of grandparent time while we snuck out for dinner. After dinner, we drove to Suwanee to see Caedmon’s Call in concert at a nice little outdoor venue. The beautiful weather continued through the day and into the nice and we enjoyed sitting on the lawn together and listening to the music.
Caedmon’s Call knocked out “Lead of Love” and “Hope To Carry On” in a hurry and then settled into a couple songs from Overdressed. It was kinda a hodge-podge lineup with Mandy Mann filling in for Danielle and Randy Holsapple playing the hammond organ in place of Josh. (Someone on the stage said “Mike Love” when Cliff introduced Randy which got a laugh out of everyone on stage.) I’m not sure who was playing bass, I didn’t recognize him.
Always eager to talk about football, Cliff Young asked us about “hand signs” for various universities. In Texas, this is a big thing as each school has their own hand sign. He asked if Georgia had a hand sign, (we have a hand sign for Georgia, but it’s not appropriate around children.) Andy said, “I’m in Georgia so I’m supposed to say Go Bulldogs….. what sport to do they play?” God bless him, he’s trying.
Andy’s solo during “Hold The Light” keeps getting longer and longer. This is not a bad thing. I wonder if hanging around The Smoakstack is rubbing off on Andy. He played “Canada” and “New Beginning” during his little solo set.
The band wrapped up with “Share The Well” and “Hands of the Potter”… great little show at a fantastic place to spend a fall Saturday night.
Our first date ten years ago lasted about seventeen hours as we went to the football game, out for dinner, and attending a fraternity party late into the night. From the time we left our house at 8 AM on Saturday until we rolled into my parents’ house after the concert around 10 PM, we had logged a 14 hour date this time around. It’s good to see some things don’t change in our relationship.