Timing is everything. At least, that’s how it turned out for us.
When we planned our Texas trip, Texas wasn’t actually our first destination. There was one stop we had been looking forward to long before we booked those flights.
Over the years I’ve learned that some of the most important people in your life aren’t the ones you’ve known the longest. They’re the ones who show up unexpectedly and somehow become part of your story forever.
For us, Annie and her mom Lori were two of those people.
Years ago, Katie worked at a daycare.
Lori dropped Annie off there every day, and Annie happened to be in the same room as our son Mason. Before long, Lori started working there too.
I kept hearing stories about Katie’s friend “Lo.”
At first I only knew her as this person Katie was always talking about.
Eventually, though, it seemed like she was at our house nearly every evening.
She’d come over, sit on the deck with Katie and me, have a drink, and spend hours talking about life while Mason, Payton, and Annie ran around playing together.
Somewhere along the way, they stopped being friends.
They became family.
Then life threw Lo a curveball.
She was coming out of a difficult relationship and started talking about moving back home to Oklahoma.
We had only known them for a year or two, but the relationship felt much older than that.
The more she talked about leaving, the more we hoped she’d change her mind.
She didn’t.
Annie had become like a daughter to us, and the thought of them moving away was heartbreaking.
When the time finally came, we didn’t just help them pack.
Katie and I helped Lo and her brother drive all the way back to Oklahoma.
It was one of those goodbyes that you hope won’t feel permanent.
Thankfully, it wasn’t.
We stayed in touch.
Whenever we were fortunate enough to see each other, it felt like no time had passed at all.
But life has a way of speeding up.
The heart doesn’t change.
Schedules do.
Kids grow up.
Careers happen.
Time gets away from you.
Lo stayed in Oklahoma.
Annie grew up.
She met the love of her life.
Got married.
And eventually found herself living in Tennessee after her husband was stationed there with the Army.
Then one day we got the phone call we’d been hoping for.
Annie was expecting a baby girl.
As Katie and I started planning our trip to Texas, we both knew one thing.
There was no way we were going to be that close and not stop in Tennessee.
Lo timed it so she would be visiting Tennessee while we were there, along with her mom Bobbie.
They both stayed back at the house to watch the baby while Annie came to pick us up.
The moment we got in the car it felt like we’d never missed a day.
We spent the drive from Nashville to Clarksville catching up with a proud new mom.
Annie and her husband had purchased a house off base.
As we drove, she was explaining how large Fort Campbell was and that part of it sat in Tennessee while the other side crossed into Kentucky.
Maybe it was me not paying attention in school.
Maybe it was the Monroe School District that failed me.
Either way, I hadn’t realized we were going to be anywhere near Kentucky.
Naturally, I started Googling whiskey distilleries.
Unfortunately, we were still hours from the famous ones.
Fortunately, there was one close enough.
If I was going to be that close to Kentucky, there was no chance I was leaving without trying a whiskey tasting.
Eventually we made it to Annie’s house.
Seeing Lo holding her granddaughter was surreal enough.
Then we got our turn.
One minute Annie was the little girl running around our backyard.
The next minute we were holding her baby daughter.
It’s funny how life works.
There was a time when Lori and Annie practically lived at our house.
Years later, Annie even moved back and lived with us for a while in her early twenties.
Most of us have talked about moving away.
Most of us don’t actually do it.
Annie did, though. She’s braver than most people I know.
She took a chance on the life she wanted instead of settling for the one she had.
As much as we loved having her near us whenever she came back home, leaving everything familiar takes courage.
Eventually she moved away again.
Losing her the second time wasn’t as hard as the first.
But it still wasn’t easy.
And now here we were.
In Tennessee.
Holding her daughter.
Talking with Annie and Lo like it was yesterday.
Some friendships can survive distance.
Some become family.
The next day we headed into Kentucky.
Specifically, M.B. Roland Distillery in Pembroke.
I had never done a whiskey tasting before and was looking forward to trying something new.
Katie and I signed up for the tasting while Lo wisely opted for a whiskey slushy.
After trying hers, I can’t say I blamed her.
The first couple samples weren’t bad at all.
In fact, they were pretty good.
I wish I could remember exactly what they were.
What I do remember is the final tasting.
The only way I can describe it is liquid rocket fuel.
I’m fairly certain it was the same substance that powered the plane that got us to Tennessee.
As I was doing my best to pretend I was enjoying this paint-peeling liquid, another gentleman in the tasting room took a sip and smiled. He seemed much happier with his decision than I did.
“That’s quite nice,” he said.
“It’s even better than when I was here a few months ago.”
There was nothing nice about it.
I am convinced that man is in an abusive relationship with whiskey, and I sincerely hope he finds the strength to get out before it’s too late.
The rest of the day Annie drove us around Clarksville and showed us a few local spots. For the most part, though, we were perfectly happy just hanging out at the house together. The conversations picked up right where they had left off years ago. The only difference was that there was now a sweet baby girl in the middle of them.
The next day, Lo and Bobbie had to start the drive back to Oklahoma. It’s always tough saying goodbye, but we powered through it. Watching four generations of the family together under one roof was something I’ll never forget.
After they left, we packed up our stuff in Annie’s car and headed out. She dropped her daughter off with a friend so she could spend the afternoon with us in Nashville. We said our goodbyes to the little princess, and off we went.
Between being a mom and everything else life throws at you, Annie hadn’t had many chances to get out and enjoy a night on the town. We were determined to help fix that.
Our flight to Austin was the next morning, so we decided to spend the night near the action. We got a room at the Hilton Nashville Downtown. It was a pretty cool place, but since we were only in Nashville for one day, we didn’t spend much time there. We threw our bags in the room and headed straight for Broadway.
There was music everywhere you turned. Every bar seemed to have somebody, or a whole band, playing and singing. The energy was incredible.
We made our way to Ole Red and grabbed some drinks. The food was good, but the music and atmosphere were even better. After that, we wandered over to Kid Rock’s Big Ass Honky Tonk. We weren’t expecting to stay long, but the band playing that night absolutely blew us away. They played great songs to sing and dance to, and that’s exactly what we did.
There we were in Nashville, hanging out with Annie and having the best time. For a little while, it felt like no time had passed at all.
Eventually, though, we knew the night was coming to an end. Since Annie still had the drive back to Clarksville ahead of her, she called it a night long before Katie and I were ready to. We did our best to keep the party going on her behalf.
I’m going to blame that on the goodbye we knew was coming but were trying our hardest to avoid.
After waiting until the very last second, there we were standing next to Annie’s car.
There are some goodbyes that are easier than others.
This was not one of them.
We all had tears in our eyes. Sure, some of those tears were probably helped along by the alcohol. At least that’s the story I’m sticking with. 😉
We had spent a couple of days getting to see Annie, her new life, and her beautiful daughter. Then we got one last night together in Nashville, talking, singing, dancing, laughing, and catching up. When it was all about to end, every bit of it hit us at once.
We couldn’t stop hugging each other, but eventually we had to say goodbye.
As she drove off, Katie and I stood there for a few minutes trying to get ourselves back together.
Eventually we did and made an attempt to hit another couple of places, but there was someone missing from the equation. The magic of the night had left with Annie.
We called it a night and finally went to bed.
It had been a short trip that was packed with memories. We got to spend time with people we love, meet the newest member of the family, relive old memories, and make some new ones along the way.
The next morning we would be on a plane to Texas, but in that moment Texas was the last thing on our minds.
Looking back on it now, I’m so glad we were able to make that trip. Sometimes life gives you the chance to spend time with people who mean the world to you, and those opportunities don’t come around nearly often enough.
This was one of those times.