I was at the Grand Ole Opry on Saturday! I didn't see the show, but toured the auditorium, listened to some music, remembered how important it is to have something to count upon. Tennessee and Minnesota have something in common -- a long time radio show. Garrison Keillor has said that his listening to the Grand Ole Opry shaped his own dreaming about Prairie Home Companion. Prairie Home Companion has been a part of my weekend since I was a young young woman living in the hills of southwest Wisconsin. We didn't have a TV and public radio was my lifeline --- it still is, and I have several tv's. Luke (my grandson) and Sasha (my daughter) were riding in the car on Sunday -- PHC was on the radio --- Luke told his Mom that Gramma was taking him to the radio show when he was a little bigger, he was wondering if the start of the new year would be "a little bigger", "Yes" Mom said, and she told Luke about how she went with her Mom to see PHC. These are the moments that I cherish, the way in which something gets passed along. I don't think that we went to PHC more than 2-4 times when Sasha was a kid and I think that 4 is pushing the estimate! But it stuck, it was something that we did that stayed somewhere, and when Luke said he was now old enough to go with Gramma, out it popped! Like making raviola's for Christmas Eve...doesn't happen every year, but when it does it taps a long time, cross generation happening. It helps to cushion some of the doubts and fears that grip us these days....so here I am in Opryland, thinking about buttermilk biscuits and Lake Wobegon. It is raining and grey and I haven't see the sun since I came. I am glad that I took a little R & R time before my "summit" and heard the music on Broadway street-it is great, and each bar has another band playing! Walked through the old Auditorium, had some good southern food, and some wonderful memories and the possibility to share them with our newest generation!!
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