Another rodeo season has come and gone. We made our second visit to attend finals with some friends. Mutton bustin' and the calf scramble weren't in the night's line up, but we did get to see the best of the best compete for the big money. The bull riding event had me on the edge of my seat as rider after rider got thrown to the ground. I think only about half of the contestants held on for the bone jarring eight second ride. It was a nail biter, y'all.
The main reason I chose this date was because Clint Black was the performer. His debut album "Killin' Time" always reminds me of my husband when we first started dating. Clint's toe-tapping song "State of Mind", released in the fall of 1993 off his "No Time to Kill" album, takes me back to the husband's first year in law school. We made some good friends through the married student group at Harvard. I became buddies with the sweetest girl named Brenda from Hereford, Texas, whose husband was in the class ahead of ours. That first summer when the husband headed to Texas to work in the DA's office, I stayed in our apartment to keep my job on campus. One weekend Brenda and I drove up the coast to Maine to enjoy some shopping and a fresh lobster roll. On our drive back into the city at dusk, "State of Mind" came on the radio. A true blue Texas girl, she cranked it up and we sang along as Clint's vocals poured out of the open windows.
I have some great memories of Brenda. She settled with her husband in Dallas before we landed in Fort Worth the following year. We stayed in touch for a while but then drifted apart as moves, jobs and kids demanded our attention. When Facebook got going and we all started looking for old friends, I searched for Brenda. That's when I discovered her obituary. She passed away from cancer at the age of 39 about six months before. I sat at my computer and cried like a baby.
When Clint played what I always think of as Brenda's song on Saturday night, I went into rapid eye blink mode to hold back the tears as I fondly recalled this precious Texas belle, in the very best sense. She left behind a husband who adored her and precious son who finished growing up without his momma. The power of music is undeniable. "Aint it funny how a melody can bring back a memory, take you to another place and time, completely change your state of mind."
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