This is another edition of Friday Dance Party on Acorns On Glen.  It’s the time where we give thanks for making it through another week and for being alive and present here on Earth.  How do we celebrate another week of living?  We dance.  So, are you alive this Friday?  Are you and your family safe and sound?  Take a few seconds now to be in the moment and realize what a great life you truly have.  Did you give thanks for that?

Good, now let’s dance.

If you had to pick a type of music for the old-fashioned barn party we went to last weekend, you would most definitely choose country music.  This music is just so synonymous with family, friends, apple pie, barns and America.  Growing up in Iowa, I used to listen to and love country music.  If you ask any of my friends today, they will also tell you that I still have a soft spot for country music.  I used to be embarrassed by my love for this music, especially when I moved to California and then to New York and Connecticut.  I guess I was a little embarrassed by my country roots.  All that has changed now and I am proud to be from the Midwest and to be a country music lover.  Believe it or not, the twangier the better.  From Carrie Underwood to Dolly Parton’s Bluegrass…..from Blake Shelton’s ‘Honey Bee’ to Conway Twitty, I love them all.

There was only one time in my life when I turned against country music.  It was only for a day.  It was a time way back in Iowa during my early high school years.  In my hometown, most old timers were either farmers or coal miners.  Iowa had quite a few black coal mines where men would ride down into tunnels and pick for coal that would be carried to the surface on rail cars.  My paternal grandfather and my great uncles were coal miners; my maternal grandfather worked in a strip mine, which was a different way to gather coal.  To commemorate this coal mining heritage, my little town used to host a coal miner’s day celebration each June, including a parade, food, games and entertainment (a lot like our old-fashioned barn party).  For the parade, many of the town merchants would build floats, which were flat beds pulled by trucks that were decorated around certain themes.  The year I turned against country music was the year there was a float entitled ‘Coal Miners’ Daughters’ based on the Loretta Lynn song.  The float was decorated with plastic flowers stapled all over the flat bed and actual coal miners’ daughters sat on chairs and cubes all along the flatbed.  As the float drove closer to my little brother and me at the parade, we could see someone dressed up to resemble Loretta Lynn.  This person was lip synching to the song ‘Coal Miner’s Daughter’.

Well, I was born a coal miner’s daughter,
In a cabin, on a hill in Butcher Holler,
We were poor, but we had love,
That’s the one thing my daddy made sure of,
He shoveled coal to make a poor man’s dollar.

IT WAS OUR MOTHER!

We were horrified.  Each of us ran to hide at the sight of our mom in a big curly black wig, long dress and big microphone with a cord.  It is hard enough to be a teenager without your mother doing this to you.  It took us many years to recover and even today we grimace every time we hear someone mention Loretta Lynn.

Other than this one time, country music has been a great source of joy for me.  Given our barn party and that we haven’t danced to a country song in a long time, let’s celebrate this week by dancing to a little Luke Bryan.  If you are a country girl, go ahead and shake it for me him.  We’ve all made it through another week and deserve to celebrate.  Let’s dance!  Are you a country music lover?