the latest

Some good stuff this past weekend through today (with one slightly frustrating thing).

Two weeks back I became aware that Rascall Flatts were coming to town for a concert. I'm not much on country music but I have grown to enjoy these guys; catchy songs and amazing harmonies. My wife however, is a huge fan, so it was a no brainer to try to get tickets. They were pricey so I went cheap as the difference between tickets was four rows by the time I bought them. Figured it put us in the building, we would probably have fun. We decided to tailgate, just the two of us, rather than go out to dinner. Got some Publix subs, snacks, stuff to drink, packed it in a cooler, borrowed Sheridan's dad's Durango, and drove on out to the arena. Weather was cool and breezy with a beautiful sunset over the baseball grounds. It was really nice. Reminded me of our early days of dating, and I have to say that my wife looked beautiful and I considered myself a lucky man to be with her that evening.

The concert was really amazing, even for someone who isn't a big country fan. The nice thing about live shows is that you have to ramp it up and that cuts through a little of the twangy nature of country, but what really sold it to me was that the guys just had fun and it showed. It was enjoyable to watch guys who just love what they do. Our seats were at the back of the third deck at this little bar like area with pub stools. Actually ended up being great as we were almost straight on looking at the stage and the stools were movable so we pulled them close together and sang along. Plenty of leg room as compared to the cruddy third deck seats in front of us. Worked out well. Great night, beautiful lady, I am blessed.

As for the frustrating part of the weekend, I saw that Saturday night more than 75,000 folks showed to watch large trucks destroy old cars in the Monster Truck Rally at Alltel Stadium (which I know isn't called that anymore, sue me). It's not the MTR that I object to, mostly that we can sell out that ridiculous show but 2 or 3 Jags games a year get blacked out and the ACC is probably going to move their championship game, both because of poor attendance. I love Jacksonville, but sometimes we just miss it. I know that the MTR is fun, but the NFL and ACC championship game are 1) FOOTBALL which is BETTER and 2) much more economically significant to our town.

On with the good stuff. Not sure if you saw the Academy Awards last night but "Falling Slowly" won for best original song in a feature film. Yup, awesome. Tivo'd the whole thing so I could see the live performance which was so cool because all four other entries (three from Enchantment and one from August Rush) were such big productions. "Falling Slowly" was just two people, two mics, an acoustic guitar, and a piano (and a beautiful song). It was so fun to see the genuine reactions of Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová. They were so touched and poor Marketa got cut off by the music so John Stewart let her come back after the commercial break so she could say thanks. She was so sweet and genuine, and it was refreshing to see something unique, independent, and so heart felt win such a significant award. Way to go Glen and Marketa!

And finally, what started out bad, ended up good. Ethan, my 2 year old son, has been sick for the past few days with a bad cough. Today he had a fever as well so we called the doctor and my wife took him in for a check up. The doctor was pretty convinced that Ethan had pneumonia and told us to take him to the hospital right away to have him X-rayed. So we took off for Baptist Hospital around 5:30pm. We checked in and I have to say that 1) we were worried and 2) we realized how blessed we are with the general health of our children. That place was a mess and there were so many sick children, it just broke my heart. Sheridan and I spent some time praying for Ethan in the car (I kept my eyes open while driving) as we were very concerned about the possibility of pneumonia and infection.

During triage, Ethan had a 103 degree fever so they administered Motrin. What was weird is that up through the initial doctor visit, Ethan was really quiet, reserved, and tired. He just sat in Sheridan's lap. But upon entering the hospital he just came alive. He was eating, playing, and in quite a mood in spite of the 103 temp. Our pediatrician actually stopped by the hospital and helped get us inside relatively quickly (I think it took less than two hours). They brought Ethan back, took some X-rays, and checked him over. Well, no temperature, no pneumonia, no strep throat, only a viral infection. I am a firm believer that medicine is a modern miracle of God, but in this case I am convinced that God healed Ethan while we waited. The doctor was convinced that it was pneumonia and the hospital doc was pretty sure it would be strep if not pneumonia. Watching Ethan wake up and come to life and then to be given an all clear was amazing. I hated that we had to go to the hospital (but when your pediatrician says to go, you go) but it was pretty amazing. He's still coughing a bit as I write this, but we were home by 9:30pm and he went right to sleep.

I don't know why God doesn't heal everyone instantaneously, for some reason He sees fit not too. But I am convinced that He did do it in this case and I am humbled that He would do so.