"There's something transformative about that place!"

7/11/10

It's that time of year again folks. That time of year where I talk about that magical place! The place is the carroll county farm museum. The event is the roots festival. www.commongroundonthehill.org

I'll weave fibro themes in with this piece about the event because the fm and other coexisting conditions are with me no matter where I go. The fatigue of fibromyalgia is absolutely profound. All I could do on Thursday was run a couple of errands at Wal Mart and then I just had to submit to the fm (fibromyalgia) and get back in bed for the rest of the day. The pain is profound, deeper then you can imagine. It's nerve pain, muscle pain that i feel in my entire body, down to the core. It's all I can do to just get out of bed, bathe and get dressed. This is a very real disability.

Should I go to the roots fest today? I can barely put one foot in front of the other. I look up at the sky and it's threatening rain but the cool air is a welcome respite to the 100 degree temps!

So I dragged my ass over to the farm museum like I've done most years since 97 (if i have wheels and I'm in MD) when I discovered common ground on the hill.

I'm so glad I went today. There's a peace that comes over me when I'm on this land. And the music is so beautiful. There are 4 music stages with back to back concerts. The headline performance is tonight at 7 p.m. A woman named Kathy Mattea. Her name rings a bell but I can't tell you a thing about her. She did make front page of the newspaper today for winning a bunch of grammys. The paper says she's a country music performer. Or at least that's the genre she's been assigned.

I'm finishing off the healthiest dinner of my life, fried dough, over on the picnic bench. I'm chatting with one of the vendors who crafts beautiful things out of metal. I told him I don't know who this Mattea person is but I'm going to mosey on over there anyway. Her band is starting the sound check.

The moment she starts singing I recognize her voice from the radio. I'm in love. She does a song called "18 wheels and a dozen roses" and another one that goes "dance a little closer to me" She's backed up by about 4 or 5 other instrumentalists I'm not sure. I can't see her clearly I'm way in the back. I'm guessings there are 250 plus in attendance. The birds are singing, (literally) the lucusts are singing, the sun is setting over Carroll Hospital. Two little girls of about 5 yrs. old are catchiing fireflies in their cupped hands and yelling "I caught one!"

What is it about this place that melts my troubles away for the day? Mattea occasionally asks us to sing along. I don't know the words but I attempt to harmonize with her. At the end of the concert everybody stands for an ovation. During the ovation a woman taps me on the shoulder and says " YOU HAVE A BEEUUUUTIFUL VOICE!"

I think I just had my own "grammy moment!"