“There’s a new hit rock group or singer every five minutes, but with country music, you have one hit and those people love you forever.”
Kenny Rogers, Country Music Hall of Fame 2013
Things have settled into some kind of normal around here. Sheltering has been going on six months now, allowing us to develop new routines. Routines that put some framework into our days but are also extremely flexible. We remember a little better now what month it is, what day it is, and if there’s something we’re supposed to do. I attribute this to the calendars I bought and the notes I keep. Somebody said it’s like having six Saturdays and a Sunday. Most commitments, and there are few, can be rearranged, canceled or forgotten, except Sunday. Sunday is our online church service where Sam and I sit on the couch and sing loudly, completely out of tune and thankful no one will hear us. Sunday nights we watch three television shows: “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” “Muletown in the Round” and “This Life I Live,” with Rory Feek and family.
I love these shows. They make me laugh out loud, and sometimes make me teary in a good sort of way, but make my Sundays great. Being lifted up is a good thing in times like these. AFV has people falling down and I’m sorry to say, although I don’t see how they don’t kill themselves, it is uproariously funny. Then there’s practical jokes and little kids saying the darndest things.
“Muletown in the Round” features three country singer/songwriters each Sunday night. They are usually about our ages and sit in the center of a small country restaurant in Columbia, Tennessee. Neither Sam or I know much about country music, but we’re learning. Our favorites are songs like Paul Overstreet’s “Takes a Whole Lot of Liquor to Like Her” and Wynn Varble’s “Waiting on a Woman.” Doesn’t really sound like songs you’d sing on Sunday, but some make us laugh while others touch our hearts.
“This Life I Live,” is the ongoing story of country singer/songwriter Rory Feek and his family. After losing his wife, Joey, to cancer he is raising their 6-year-old daughter Indiana, aka Indy. Many of his family members have moved back to the area and run their own businesses like Marcy Jo’s Mealhouse and Bakery, Marcy Jo’s Muletown restaurant in downtown, along with Muletown Roasted Coffee next door. The feel of the town is like Mayberry RFD. There’s an old-fashioned schoolhouse on Rory’s farm. There are ducks and chickens and cows and horses and tractors and vegetable gardens. There are big family dinners served on an outside table on the porch and neighbors being neighborly, contributing an apple pie or banana nut bread.
Michael, at the bakery, had to close down during the pandemic when all were sheltering and restaurants closed. He gathered his team and they made homemade bread and handed it out free. Grocery stores with limited number of bread loaves sometimes meant not enough bread for families with more than a couple of kids. So, Michael gave away bread. This is what I love about country living and this life we live.
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