“I had a really special relationship with my grandmother, she was an amazing lady. I only lived about 5 minutes from her when I was growing up so I’d get to see her almost everyday. I can remember getting my mom to take me to her house all the time so I could take a bath in her giant bathtub. When I was 4, we were riding to the store together and we heard “Turn Me Loose” on the radio. She turned to me and said, ‘that’s our man’. Because of her, I’ve always felt an emotional connection to Vince Gill and his music. I mean from the age of 8-10 I just knew I was going to marry him. He’s my Elvis!
My grandmother didn’t have it easy, she had to raise her family on her own after my grandpa died when my mom was 7. Money was tight. But when I was 14 years old she scrounged enough money together so we could go see Vince in Delaware at the state fair. When we got there we saw storm clouds building, the sky was getting darker and darker. Then we saw a tornado forming. We ran to hide under the stands, I mean there was no other place to go. I was so scared, but I knew I’d be OK because she was there with me. The tornado ended up circling around us, devastating the area, but never touching the fair.
She passed away in 2012, and I miss her so much. But just a few weeks after she died my husband took me to see Vince at the Strawberry Festival in Plant City, Florida. We were just sitting there, waiting for the show to start, I looked up into the sky and saw a white owl circling around us. My grandmother always loved white owls, and you just don’t ever see them in Florida. So I couldn’t help but think that she was there with me, for one last show, with our man.”
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