Ahhhh....it was sooooo good!!

My first date with Macey was beautiful. She swept me off my feet. She picked me up, looking all polished and cute, took me out to dinner at Shintomi (my favorite sushi place) and then to Rumors Wine Bar, an uber cool little artsy bar in an uber cool little artsy district of 12 Ave. South. She held my hand on the way home and when her hand touched mine, I knew I was home. We've been inseparable ever since.
My next truly memorable date with my true love was when she took me to see Béla Fleck with the Nashville Symphony. We went to The Melting Pot for dinner, drank much wine, then walked the 2nd Ave SoBro district amid the tourists, then headed over to TPAC for the show. Macey knows how to make me swoon...
When we were in Ohio this winter, she took me to Severance Hall to see the Cleveland Orchestra perform Beethoven. Afterwards we went out to a jazz club, Nighttown for dinner and wine and more music. Again, my girl really performs on the "date" game.
Now these may be every weekend events for some, but not me, and I don't want them to be. I enjoy enjoying the rarity and novelty of "special" nights.
A normal date for us would be a simple dinner and movie or trip to an art show. Maybe some wine and candle light at home, we're pretty easy to please. But when time comes for some wooing- my woman performs hands down above and beyond the call of duty.
Last night she picked me up from work and took me to a new sushi place. Well, new to me. Not so new to the people in the know around here. Peter's. Rumor is that Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban frequent the place, but we didn't see them. I was a bit concerned because when we pulled up I saw first that the building is undergoing some reconstruction. One should never let that deter them from entering the doors, I've learned, and this was most definitely one of those times. Peter's is not as pretty inside as Shintomi, so I was starting to secretly question if my wife had lost her ...je ne sais quoi, for date night. I was wrong. The staff of Peters were so friendly and and the sushi was divine! I would go back there time and time again, even if the sushi was served on paper plates while I was seated at a plastic patio table. I would go to Peter's if my ex was in there with her new lover and they were making out in the middle of my table. I would go to Peter's if all of my ex's were there making out with each other at my table. I would go to Peter's if my parents were in there preaching their gospel to my wad of ex-orgy and the place was on fire. Get the picture? It really is that good.
After getting sufficiently filled up on the most yummy yummy sushi I've had since leaving California, we headed downtown. The rain that had plagued the majority of the day subsided and mother nature decided to allow us clear skies and mild temperatures for the evening. At the Ryman, we got to our seats, balcony seats, which were nice, good view, no poles in the way. That can be a real problem down on the floor there. I found that out when I was at the Indigo Girls show. I had seats that were pretty close up to the stage, like 10th row, but I had a friggin big ass pole occluding my view throughout the entire show. Of course at Indigo Girls, down there on the floor, there was no security patrolling as heavily as they were up on the balcony at Ani's show. Geez, I tried a couple of times to get my phone out to snap a picture or two, but the cell phone nazi's were on it every time! They were serious last night. Every few min another nazi appeared to confiscate someone's phone or camera. I couldn't risk it. Guess I'm getting dull in my old age.
Ani was beautiful! She's cut her hair again, and I just love short hair butchy Ani! LOVE her! I loved shaved head Ani and Macey thinks I'm weird for that, but I won't apologize for it. I HEART ANI. I loved dread lock Ani, braided Ani, even long ,pretty, somewhat curly haired Ani. She looked great. She sounded great. She played several new songs, which has my chomps watering for the new CD! She talked about being a mom and how her perspective has shifted a bit. Of course it would. I am so excited to hear what comes from her in this chapter of her life. She talked about shifting from interjecting the word "feminism" into every conversation to "patriarchy" and how she believes that each of us is responsible for bringing about the change that is needed to get us out of the mess that our society is in. These are the things that I love about Ani. She uses the stage to not only sing her songs and play her guitar, but to talk about the pertinent issues of the day that need to be addressed as well. Ani stood on the stage of the Ryman Auditorium, the granddaddy of The Good Ole Boy's Club, and preached feminism. She stood the stage that so many talented women fought tooth and nail to get access to and often were denied simply because of their gender and said patriarchy ain't working, let's turn this thing around! Macey asked me before the show why Ani, as a feminist, would want to play the Ryman. Why we would want to give Gaylord, gay-discriminatory Gaylord our money. For a few moments I started to fall into the trap. Macey likes to make me question and think. But then Ani took the stage. She spoke, she sang. And I understood why she would do it. It was a triumph for Ani to stand on the stage of the Ryman, to be on Gaylord's property talking about equality and feminism and democracy. It was a much bigger statement to say these things on the traditionally male-centric, female-oppressive stages of the Ryman than it would have been to say these things from a stage at the N.O.W. headquarters.
Macey enjoyed the show, all of her burning questions aside. She decided that there were more hippies in Nashville than she ever realized and that she no longer thought that the Ryman smelled of Ben Gay, but rather patchouli. I should explain that the last time we were there together was when I bought her tickets to see Bob Newheart. I swear we were the only people there under 50 that time.
We laughed that security earned their salary last night. At the Bob show, they pretty much sat back and enjoyed the button down comedy along with us. As I told Macey though, Ani does challenge us to " ...Dress down get out there , Pick a fight with the police..."
So, what do you expect?
Thank you, Ani for an excellent show! That was the best Valentine's Day Present I've ever had to wait for!! Thank you Macey for taking me, and for making me question and think more deeply about the reality of everything. I love that about you.
I love my wife!