I *Heart* Garth Brooks!!

Tonight, I am going to a concert that will most definitely be one of the best I have ever attended. Garth Brooks has left Vegas for a moment to come to Nashville and do 9 benefit concerts for Nashville flood victims.

I have seen Garth only once in concert. It was 18? years ago. I was around 12, maybe 13 when he did a 3 day concert series in a nearby town. Everyone had tickets. Everyone but me. My cousin was going; my sisters were going; friends from school had garnered their seats as well. It seemed that I was only person in all of Northeast Louisiana who did not have the money for a ticket, nor anyone to go with. I was heartbroken.

From the very beginning, I had been a rabid Garth Brooks fan. He and his tight jeans and full set of lips entered my life about the time I was hitting puberty. I was in love! I had posters, tshirts, magazines, videos, tapes, anything with his face and/or voice. Everyone who knew me, knew I was smitten. So, not to be able to attend a once in a lifetime for me concert was truly tragic. On the last day of the concert, as my sisters were saying goodbye with their much coveted tickets, I lay prostrate on the couch sobbing my eyes out. And then, my phone rang.

Joy! Triumph! Jubilation! Rapture! A miracle occured! A family friend, who also happened to be my lunch lady at school, called to say that she had an extra ticket and would love to take me to see Garth. I could not contain my excitement. I quickly threw on my special Garth tshirt and sat eagerly waiting for her to pick me up. Our seats were in the nosebleeds and the object of my adoration was but an ant on stage, but that did not deter me from having the time of my life. I am forever in debt to that lovely lady and the generous gift that gave me one night with my idol.

Now, here I am again. Eagerly, awaiting the time when I hop in my car and head downtown to meet up with my husband and friends to attend my second Garth Brooks concert. My obsession with Mr. Brooks has waned over the years as I grew up and became more involved with teen pop singers such as Hanson and Backstreet boys. But I truly feel like that little girl again from so many years ago as I get ready to once more experience the heart-pounding and euphoria-filled feeling that, for me, only comes from seeing Garth Brooks in concert.