just down below me is the old sea

Patty Griffin is magical. That voice ... that great big resounding bluesy gut-wrenching voice. And coming from that little body. So petite. So fragile looking yet, so strong in voice and heart. I was, once again, fortunate enough to see Patty Griffin in concert the other night and I get the same good blessings tonight. I truly mean it when I say "fortunate enough" because I think that Patty is one of the most underrated talents around. I also think that being in the presence of her songs and her talent is an honor. One that not everyone gets to witness or experience. And, for me, it IS an experience. Her music takes me other places. It reminds me of old times, it hints at new ones. It tells stories of lives lived that I've never known. And it brings you to places you've never dreamed of. When I think of her music, I think of Passion. And though a lot of her stuff is sorrowful, it makes me feel good to listen. I've seen her so many times now, but each time just gets better and better. Though she hasn't done as much from her Living With Ghosts and Flaming Red albums, but her new stuff is so so pretty that it makes up for it.

Not only did I get to go and see Patty (in Grand Rapids, about 2.5 hours away), but I got to go with Erik. We had fun chatting it up about our troubles, our likes/dislikes, our mutual distaste for Teva's and our mutual generalization of Christian collegiate types. It was a fun trip and I get to do it all again tonight in Ann Arbor with Erik and this time, Trent too. WEE! I can't remember if I've ever seen Patty in concert with Trent. He and I saw her together at her in-store performance way back when ... when I first was introduced to her. But in concert? I'm not sure.

In between the Pattying, I managed to squeeze in a little girl time with VLB and Kirsten last night and I'm so happy we were able to get together. Not only were we able to commiserate on recent troubles in the "family," but we also got to know each other a bit better, I think. We learned more about each other's pasts, families, exes.... We also had a yummy dinner at Zumba and walked down to Stucchi's for dessert. Back at Kirsten's the plan was to drink a little wine and maybe watch a girly flick (Bridget Jones, anyone?). But we were too full up on ice cream and mexican to think of eating/drinking anything else. Instead we sat around and girl-talked. I love them gals. I'm happy to have become acquainted with the whole group ... and I'm glad to have shared some time with all of them this week.