Grateful

                                                    ♫ "You should listen to your heart
                                                      It's going to tell you what you need
                                                     Take care of yourself
                                                    And don't you worry about me" ♪

About a month ago I got to meet one of my favorite singer-songwriters: Tristan Prettyman!  I had left a comment on one of her pictures on instagram, welcoming her to Denver and saying that I wished I could be at her show but only had enough money budgeted for her album.  Lo and behold, she responded within minutes telling me she'd put me on her guest list.  It was amazing, and her performance was great!  I got to meet her after the show and I was so happy!

 

Sit back, because I am about to tell you why I am so starstruck by this amazing person! 

The first time that I saw Tristan Prettyman perform was in 2008, my dear friend Andrea asked if I wanted to venture out to Boulder to see Tristan's show.  I had seen Tristan's name on iTunes but had never listened to any of her music before that night.  She was amazing live!  I fell in love with her music and oddly enough her whole vibe!  The lyrics, the crowd interaction, the way the people in the crowd danced (which I started calling hippie dancing).  It was magical.

That night after the show my friend and I were driving back home from Boulder and it was snowing a blizzard!  David called while we were driving and it was a short conversation since I was driving and it was snowing, I didn't know it at the time but it was one of the very last conversations I would have with him.  I didn't know that my whole world was about to flip turn upside down and I didn't know that the friend sitting next to me in the passenger seat (that I had just barely reconnected with) was going to be one of my rocks over the next few years.

** Here's a pic of us (doesn't have anything to do with anything in this post, other than it is just my favorite pic of us, it's blurry, but I still love it!):

I also, didn't know that Tristan Prettyman was going to be a rock of a different kind.  Listening to her music was therapeutic, yes there was a song that I used in an indulgent way that made me dwell on things (♪ And if this sadness won't ever leave, I guess I'll build it a home so it has a nice place to stay), but at the time that was what I needed.  And when I moved into a different phase of grieving or letting go or fooled myself with inappropriate crushes (♪ I've seen things from a different view, and I realized all the things I already knew-- your not for me, you know I don't think that you'll ever be good for me, or ♫ Well I just want to laugh my way through life, and ♪ Gonna let it all roll right past me cause when I'm here I'm always happy), I'd find a new song of hers that spoke to me in that phase!

With her latest album, I feel like I have been invested in her own journey.  Through her blog and through her instagram she shares so much of her story and how she got to the lyrics that manifested themselves into an album!

Tristan is the walking embodiment of how good "letting go" looks!  Letting go of the things that have been done to us, the wrongs that people commit against us, and all the negative stuff that can build up.  She channels it into writing, into giving, into yoga, and who knows what else?

I know that I have been processing stuff that went down in 2008 for what seems like FOREVER!  If it feels like that to you guys, my 9 readers, trust me it feels double that to my own self.  Nothing is more frustrating than holding yourself to other people's timelines,  or to feel like you are never making progress, or to feel like this one thing is going to destroy you if you can not figure out how to let go of it,  or to finally feel like you are making progress only to have a setback out of the blue.  Lately though, I feel like I finally get it.  That same friend that I went to Tristan's show with in 2008 recently met up with me for a coffee, she told me something along the lines of... "You are never going to be able to bury it, it's always going to resurface in one way or another so quit trying to bury it... what happened is a part of you."

So when Tristan asks, ♫ "If you could go anywhere, what would you see?  Take a step in any direction... just make believe!" I can see where I want to go, and I know it's within reach, and I know that along the journey I will have a good soundtrack and really good company!