Sweet Thing

I am a huge Keith Urban fan. I make no bones about it. From what I have read and the interviews I've seen, he and his wife strike me as a couple of down to Earth folks that you could invite over for a cookout, throw some burgers on the grill and split a pitcher of tea. He appears to be a wonderful humanitarian. Generous with his time and resources when disasters strike or in his support of St. Jude's Children's Hospital.

And as easy as Keith is on the eyes, I enjoy him most when my eyes are closed, my earphones are plugged in and I'm listening. Listening to his voice, the words of his songs and the magic his fingers work on his guitar. I will, and have, listen to him for hours on end.

Being very secure in the knowledge that Keith is not going to ride up to our front door on his motorcycle and sweep me off my feet, Billy supports my fandemonium. (I support his, too. And he enjoys Keith Urban almost as much as I do.)

Even indulges me on occasion.

Like August 6, 2009. The day after our 20th anniversary.

Our anniversary fell on a Wednesday last year. It also fell on Billy's regular week to work in Arkansas. So he was there and I was home with the pack. Yes, Billy could have changed his schedule. He reminds me all the time that he works for himself. He could have been home for our anniversary and gone a little later.

But he is as good a son as he is a husband and Keith Urban was in North Little Rock on August 6th and his mom really wanted to go to the show. There was no way I could make it. The logistics were just too much.

So he took her.

I had had a long couple of days on my own. Around 9:30 the night of the 6th I crawled into bed, lights out, everyone was quiet. I'm just about to fall asleep.

The phone rings.

Caller ID says its Billy.

But what I heard on the other end of the line was not Billy's voice but "Hit the Ground Running" - the opening song of Keith's show.

Billy held the phone for almost 30 minutes so I could hear, calling back every so often as needed. He did it until I had to go to sleep (can't stay up past 10 on a "school night"). Just so I could "be there" with him and catch a little bit.

Then he came home with this T-shirt from the show.


(For those that don't know, "Sweet Thing" is one of the hits from Keith's Defying Gravity CD)

With this story to go with it.

Apparently, Billy had his eye on a different T-shirt but this particular booth only had them in extra large sizes. Billy said no, he'd go look at a different booth. Not wanting to lose a sale, the girl selling kept trying to convince him that it was a child's extra large or ran small or anything to get him to buy it.

After a couple of minutes of this he finally stopped her and said, "Ma'am, my wife has lost 50 pounds. I'm not taking home an extra large ANYTHING", to which the lady waiting beside him leaned over and responded, "Good call".

I don't know, she may have been right. But I happen to think the "good call" was on my part.

The evening of December 21, 1988.

When I said "yes" to my Sweet Thing.