“Today is a blessing. Hug your family. Help your neighbor. Be kind to a stranger.” ~ Andy Beshear
Remember I said we went to the Joplin VFW last Sunday? I had a blast. It was my first time at a VFW. They all found that unusual given that Hero and Shero were vets, but the VFW in West Liberty exploded when I was maybe three or four years old, and they didn’t rebuild. So the opportunity just never presented itself. And, yes, it really exploded – blew up all over the hill, into the road – boom – exploded. It was said to be a gas leak, but it exploded at night with no one in it so… was it a gas leak? We’ll stick with a gas leak. Anyway, the music at the Joplin VFW was fabulous. Scott was probably the youngest player there. Almost all the players were easily in the Boomer category, but they could all play really, really well; everything from Dave Edmonds to Molly Hatchet. The band that played after Scott’s band was The Cate Brothers. We used to do dates with them 30 years ago in Ft. Smith, Arkansas because we had the same booking agent for a while. Meanwhile, old vets were milling through the industrial building reviewing the auction items under fluorescent lights as their wives/girlfriends danced their hearts out to, well, every song nearly. This was a fundraiser for someone, and I’m sure they raised a good amount because the place was packed and they had band after band to keep ’em dancing and drinking. The strangest thing, though, was that just about everywhere I looked, I saw someone I recognized or thought I did. And I wasn’t alone in that phenomenon. Barb and Scott did the same thing (although they did actually know one person they thought they knew). So, I loved this day so much, I think Scott and I should start a band and do a VFW tour. We’ll kick off at the Joplin doppelganger VFW, and I know at least four people that will come see us there.
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