My Sacred Kentucky Home

Today I cancelled my Kentucky Derby Weekend that I had been planning since sitting in the stands at Churchill Downs last May. It was going to be grand and over the top at Wrenbury Cottage in Cedar City. I was going to have a "Lillies for the Phillies" Pink Tea just for the ladies on Friday afternoon in honor of the Kentucky Oaks. Friday evening, all of my guests would watch Secretariat out back on the projector just to build the excitement and anticipation for the big race. Saturday we would do my annual Kentucky Derby party with concessions I had eaten right there at the Kentucky Derby itself. 

As much as I loved being there at the Kentucky Derby last year, I missed and longed for my own Derby party with friends or family where I could celebrate and share my love of Kentucky. 

*Just had a thought come to mind. Expectations often lead to disappointment. Duh! My mom and I had talked about that so much for the last couple years she was alive. That's my whole problem today.

As it came time to send out invitations for my over the top, first time ever, so awesome Derby Weekend, I started realizing that people don't have the love of the Derby like I do. I joked with D one day that I couldn't believe the Kentucky Derby wasn't a national holiday and that people didn't have their priorities straight. When in fact, I'm just not in Kentucky anymore. It made me sad. 

I have sobbed all day. The entire day. Still sobbing. Sad that I won't be having my Kentucky Derby party. The one day of the year, where I get to embrace, honor, recognize, and share my love of Kentucky. It's more than just the fastest two minutes in sports. It's more than the hats, the roses, the Hot Browns and Juleps. It's Kentucky. It's the Bluegrass State. It's tobacco fields and bourbon. It's the way they sound when they speak. It's the first time I left home. It's where I learned to be independent as a single mother while D was so busy with school. It's my apartment where I received and witnessed a miracle. It's the U of L Hospital where I learned for myself that I was never really alone, but that God was aware of me and loved me. It was the burn unit that I had heavenly angels help and minister to me. It was Patti, my angel nurse that loved me and treated me as her own child. It was my mom coming out to take care of me and my two little boys and the conversations that we would have for the next 28 years because of my accident and how it truly changed both of us. It was becoming friends with Jasminka, a Bosnian refugee. It was driving over that last bridge as we left Louisville, leaving a huge piece of my heart. 

As the disappointment gradually grew the last couple of weeks, it became all consuming. Nobody understands my love of Kentucky and what it really means to me. Nobody except my mom. She knew. She lived it with me. We talked and talked and referred to those days so many times. We were different because of the things I had gone through and shared with her. She isn't here to cry to or to talk to. She was Kentucky. 

I called my daughter-in-law today and asked if I could visit them for the weekend and watch the Derby together. I'll fly there on Friday. 

This afternoon, a friend reached out to me from Beliz asking "How might one throw a tea party?" As I was responding to her, she brought up my Derby Pie and how much she loved it along with details from our first party together 23 years ago. I quickly told her she was my tender mercy today. 

Mom, I've been talking to you all day. I miss you. I'm so glad you were a part of My Sacred Kentucky Home. 

Churchill, Bourbon, Temple and Garth...Day 3

We headed out to Wild eggs for breakfast which was just down the street from us.  It was packed even at 10:00 on a week day so we thought that was a pretty good sign.  

It was a fun place with really neat egg art on the walls and the restroom doors cracked me up.  We loved this print of the runny egg, but it wasn't quite the same when we were in the picture with it.  

We sat there watching each table get their food delivered and oohed and awed at all the yummy looking food. We ordered the Raspberries and Lemons Oh My! (Buttermilk pancakes with raspberries, lemon curd, raspberry sauce, whipped cream and powdered sugar) and the Mr. Potato Head Casserole. (Hashbrown potatoes baked with sour cream, diced onions, spices and cheddar-jack cheese.  Topped with breakfast sausage, diced tomatoes, poblano peppers, roasted mushrooms, queso fundido and an egg your way.) The whole menu had really fun and clever names so it was fun reading through the menu.  The whole meal was yummy!  Totally making the pancakes with lemon curd and raspberries at home. 

 After breakfast we headed to Louisville again for some unfinished business.  There's no way I could return there and not visit Churchill Downs.  It was hilarious.  We went in a different way than I had every single time I had been there.  Sheri kept telling me the directions and I kept insisting that it wasn't in this area but on the opposite side.  We were back behind the fair grounds and then I saw a huge screen and said that we had found the drive in.  Not so much.  It ended up being the jumbo tron for Churchill.  I couldn't believe it.  How had I never been to that area of town?  Ever.  It was good to be back in familiar territory although it had changed too.  Barbaro was now buried right there on sight, and the stands were enormous.  They had continued to add on and were now expecting 175,000 at this Derby.  I think I remembered it being 140,000.

We had fun visiting the Kentucky Derby Museum.  They've done a fabulous job there for all ages actually.

My new bracelet I got there.

These are the pants worn by the jockey last year riding American Pharoah.  (my horse)

Don't mess with me when I'm in a horse race.

I've got to work on my hat placement.

Visit Churchill Downs.  CHECK

 We then went out near Shepherdsville to the Jim Beam Distillery.  We were in bourbon country so it seemed fitting.  When we arrived at the property we were in awe at how beautiful it was.  There were gorgeous black barns, the yards were well maintained, and there were barns and buildings dotting the rolling hills.  We tried to purchase tour tickets but they were sold out.  We really wanted to do the bus tour so that we could be driven around the rolling hills and see all the barns so we bought $10 tickets for the next day.  While we were there we walked around, shot a couple pictures, I almost fell down a well, and we got some yummy BBQ right there on the property.

Jim Beam Distillery.  CHECK

Smoked Brisket and pulled pork sandwiches with homemade chips and mac & cheese.

Driving back to Louisville we drove through Bernheim Forest which was a beautiful park with trails, lakes, park benches everywhere, and poles with several bird houses on them.  

 We got back to the motel and with it still be so cold and windy there, I said was going to just climb in bed and get cozy for just a minute.  Well I ended up falling asleep.  I woke up and called the temple to see if we could make an appointment for that evening.  We left within a few minutes and went to Crestwood to see the new temple.  At least it was new to me.  It was announced in 1999, the year after we left.  It was tiny and reminded me of the South Carolina Temple.  We were given a tour and were shown all the new beautiful artwork they had just gotten.  Some of the pieces I had never seen and they were beautiful.

While doing temple work there, I heard a phrase that I have loved for so many years. I shed tears every time I hear it and that time it wasn't any different.  Yet, it was.  I was thinking about the promises, the reason I was in Louisville right then, the time of year, and being in that specific temple.  That's when I recognized my fifth tender mercy on the trip. All these years I've had Louisville on a pedestal, it almost being a sacred place.  Yet, I have what is truly sacred to me, 24 hours a day, no matter where I am in the world, how I'm feeling, or who I'm with.  I was overcome with so much gratitude and love as the Spirit bore witness to me that as long as I live like I know I should, I can be protected.  I know it to be true.  I'm living proof.  I was so happy to have been able to attend their small yet beautiful temple, and the huge inspired insight I got that day.

Attend the Louisville temple.  CHECK

After the temple we headed back to our motel to change because we had somewhere we needed to go.  haha.  Of all places?  We were headed to the building that ruined my Louisville skyline, the KFC yum Center to see Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood.

 Talk about going, going, and going that day.  Our concert was at 10:30 P.M.  Not knowing what traffic would be like downtown, we wanted to get their with plenty of time in case we had to park several blocks away.  The streets were insane.  Garth had done a 7:30 concert also, so there were thousands of people trying to leave the venue while we were trying to get in.  We weren't sure if we were going to find a place or be able to move over lanes if we needed to.  All of a sudden there was a parking garage on our left with vacancy.  We zoomed over, well not exactly, but I've learned how to be an aggressive driver when necessary, and we found a place in the parking garage.  Sheri took a picture to know where we had left the car in the garage and we began to make our trek.  It was so cold yet there were ding dong girls wearing shorts and skirts to their you know wheres.  Really?  You'd choose that over being warm??  We found the line for the Yum Center and waited for about half an hour, while Sheri and I stood close to each other to create some sort of warmth.  Then, the doors opened.  Don't be fooled.  There were thousands of us that had to be funneled through security.  We made it up to the doors and looked behind us only to see a sea of people waiting.  There was no way we would all get in on time for the concert.  Walking in, it was neat seeing the new building and learning that the U of L Cardinals play their games there.  D would think it was cool, so it instantly became cool to me too.  

 At 11:15 the concert started.  You would have thought we'd be exhausted and too old for that, but it was exciting and we giggled over the fact that this wasn't the norm for either of us.  Garth came out and began singing and the fans went crazy.  After about five minutes, he said that Trisha was home sick and that we would be stuck with him all night.  Again, the crowd went wild.  After just watching him perform for five minutes, my disappointment in no Trisha lasted about as long as it took to type this sentence.  He was the best performer I had ever seen and I have never even owned a song of his.  He was amazing.  He was fun, he was great live, he was great with the crowd, he was energetic, he sang all the songs you had heard before, and quite frankly you didn't want it to end.  After about an hour and a half, he and his band walked off stage.  Really?  Had it gone by that quickly?  I'm his newest super fan.  He came back out with just himself and his guitar.  He played any requests for half an hour even if they weren't his songs.  You knew he had to have been exhausted but you would have never known it by his performance.  He went to leave the stage one more time and the crowd insisted he remain, so he did.  He sang a couple more songs for us and it was over.

I needed his CD.  I needed a concert tee.  I loved this guy.  If you have a chance to go see him.  GO.  Actually I think his CD arrived yesterday so I'm going to race out to my mailbox and get it, then smother my kids with Garth Brooks for the next few weeks.  And, I couldn't help myself.  I've never bought a concert tee, but since it wasn't black with his photo on it, I heard it talk to me and so I bought it.

 The concert went until 1:30 in the morning.  We laughed and reminisced about what an awesome concert we had been to and how lucky we were to have been able to go.  Garth hadn't been in Louisville for 17-19 years and we were there that weekend.  So cool.  We finally went to bed at 3:00 that morning with our alarms set so that we could go back to the distillery for our bus tour.  Silly girls. Such a great day.

Garth Brooks Concert.  CHECK