an old friend

Spring Break 2002 my family, friend Sara, and I spent a couple of days in Nashville, on our way to Florida- where we met this guy shortly after he was signed to Dreamworks Records:

We became fast friends, and kept in touch over the next several years. I would often travel to another Michigan town to watch him perform and support his growing music career. We even lived in the same city for a while (Nashville). Fast forward nine years later....

We had been out of contact for about 3 years, he'd been busy performing and walking all over the country, while I've been busy getting married and stuff like that:) I heard on the radio that Jimmy Wayne would be performing in Traverse City friday night. Sara and I decided we should go.

We pushed our way to the front of the crowd, elbowing a lot of females out of our way. I told Sara I didn't want to act like a crazed fan and she was like "Who cares?! Get up there!" haha. It's not easy to get someone's attention when their eyes are closed 90% of the time! It took a couple of songs before he realized we were in the front row. We had officially surprised him, so we figured we could go sit back down and be civilized again:)

After the show, and a long line of picture-takers and autograph-getters, we caught up with Jimmy, and headed onto his tour bus to chat for a while. I hadn't seen or talked to him in about 3 years, so as you know, a lot's changed--the biggest shock being my new marriage:) I had to remind him that I'm not 15 anymore.

(please ignore this awful picture of me and focus on the other two!)

There were a lot of laughs as anyone who's ever been around Jimmy knows. We reminisced about the day we met, my mom's "sweet, conniving, southern girl" accent, his ex-girlfriends, and one heated phone conversation. In three years, he hasn't changed a bit. Isn't it comforting to see an old friend and feel like no time has passed at all? That's how it was. Until next time, buddy!

Check out the Meet Me Halfway organization that Jimmy's a part of and his latest album "Sara Smile."

An oldie but a goodie: