Friday, April 22, 2022

An Evening You Will {not} Forget for the Rest of Your Life

 


Once upon a time, as in yesterday, the twenty-first of April 2022, the MRGA {Make Reading Great Again} book club girls minus one plus an honorary member,  attended Sean Dietrich's live one-man show at held at the historic venue of the Monroe County Museum Courthouse. But Mr. Sean did not keep his promise posted on Instagram that he would provide us with "an evening you will forget for the rest of your life!"

But let me back up a bit and give you the backstory preluding this event. Katie chose Will the Circle Be Unbroken which is the memoir of Sean's life for our February book. And we all absolutely loved it! I personally was not even able to read it in public as it made me either sob or guffaw intermittently! Very fittingly, we met at Jack's to discuss it over fried chicken! Anyway, a week or so after that, I was in our local Atmore library chatting with the librarians, mentioning how much we had loved this book, and asked if they would ever get him to come to Atmore for a book signing! "Well, you know he's gonna be in Monroeville in April, right?" "NO! I did not! All the deets PLEASE!" We found out we had to go in person to get these precious paper tickets; only two tickets per person. Three of us were able to get right on up to the Monroe County Library, whereas I, due to busyness, was not able to get up there for another two days. I was nervously praying that the Good Lowered {Lord} would see fit to bless me with two more tickets! And He did! I was able to get #s 160 and 161 of 175! 


Fast forward to the beautiful spring evening of last night. We wanted to be early as to be able to nab a good parking spot and enjoy a leisurely supper at the local hole in the wall haunt, The Courthouse Cafe. Can't beat a diner-style bacon cheeseburger with sweet tater "Finch" fries! Also, I think they could win an award for Best Fried Dill Pickles in Alabama! But not for Most Air-Conditioned Indoor Dining. The courthouse doors were set to open at 6:30pm, so we enjoyed watching the political rally that was taking place on the lawn while waiting in line basking in the balmy southern April evening. At last the old doors were jubilantly sprung aside and we were able to enter to meet Mrs. Sean, Jamie who is the CEO, and buy books if we wished. She was just as lovely and personable as I had imagined her to be! At her recommendation, I selected Whistling Dixie to add to my collection. 
Then we entered the courtroom and settled ourselves on the second bench back, nearly taking the entire row. The energy and excitement of the crowd was palpable! Chatting with the elderly ladies in front of us, it truly felt like a big family gathering! And more than a bit surreal that we would actually be seeing and hearing Sean of the South in the flesh in a few moments! As this event was in celebration of the 95th Anniversary of the Monroe County Library, that was duly recognized and Sean was introduced before he popped out on stage from one of the back doors.
I find it hard to describe with ordinary words what the next hour and a half held! Sean sang. Liltingly, beautifully, in his rich southern accent accompanied by the old guitar he writes about. Moving smoothly from one song to the next, he even threw in a fitting bout of yodeling! He sang old hymns, slow hymns, funny songs, and Vacation Bible School songs. And "You Are My Sunshine," which Jamie told us is the title of his next book set to be released in the fall. And we sang with him, and clapped, and laughed until we cried at the stories he told with gestures and facial expressions as much as with his voice. And we watched his eyebrows which told stories all on their own.
And then it was over. But not quite! Because then we got to speak with him; and he hugged our necks and signed our books, and seemed humbly pleased that we knew who he was and had chosen his book for our book club! And he and I shared a ginger moment when he told me he liked my hair and I replied that I liked his! 
Thus it ended, this night we will not forget for the rest of our lives.

5 comments:

  1. Lucky lucky girls! Thanks for the report. Being there vicariously was better than not at all!

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  2. Wow! I'm jealous! Enjoyed your account very much!!!

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  3. Love this report! I'm afraid it didn't lower my jealousy, only made it rise!

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  4. I love it!! I wish to see Sean!

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  5. This is truly epic!! I have been longing to go see the play "To Kill A Mockingbird" in Monroeville for years. And meeting Sean!! It all sounds like a dream come true. ♡

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