by Jeanni Ritchie
I don’t know about y’all but my 90’s were spent in a haze of bottles, diapers, time-outs, and dirty dishes.
I had five kids in five years shortly after high school and while I had the energy and stamina of a 20-year old, I had nowhere near the mental capacity for the ball team we’d procreated!
I found solace in country music.
Deana Carter and I reminisced over Strawberry Wine. She knew the disappointment I’d felt when I too wondered, Did I Shave My Legs for This?!
I got in trouble more than once blowing up my car’s transmission, leading to a Garth Brooks parody of The Thunder Rolls: And the engine blows, the oil ran out…
While I listened to Garth’s erstwhile Shameless, my kids thought it was a bathroom song, certain he was announcing that he was Shaving!
I had my 7th grade English class use synonyms to rewrite Faith Hill’s hit, This Kiss. This “centrifugal motion, this perpetual bliss…” It was a great vocabulary lesson!
At least the girls thought so!
But there were three other country artists that I loved as well and they are all coming to the Paragon Casino’s Mari Center on May 24th at 8 PM.
Collin Raye, master storyteller, still brings me to tears every time I hear his 1992 #1 hit, Love, Me. I Think About You and One Boy, One Girl are two other heartstring-tugging hits for Raye.
But the one that hit home the most for me was Little Rock. Post-childbirth pain medication had opened a new door to my past addictions and I struggled off and on for years. I got that song on a cellular level.
Sammy Kershaw boosted my self-esteem with She Don’t Know She’s Beautiful. Gone were the days of primping for an hour to go out. In the 90’s I was lucky to get all the strained carrots out of my hair before I made it to church on Sunday morning.
I even got halfway down the drive once before I realized I was still wearing slippers with my Sunday best. But Sammy saw me.
Not only that, he made me feel like royalty in Queen of My Double Wide Trailer!
Aaron Tippin reminded me of my patriotic side, Where the Stars and Stripes and the Eagle Fly, as well as my “imaginative” side, That’s as Close as I’ll Get to Loving You.
It took me a few more years before I matured enough to live the lyrics, You’ve Got to Stand for Something…
It was a lesson we all need to learn.
You’ve got to stand for something or you’ll fall for anything.
You’ve got to be your friend a man, not a puppet on a string…
I am so excited to revisit the 90’s with a couple of friends that night. Finally at a place of prolonged peace, I can now look back and reminisce fondly. I glean the good out of the past.
My roots shaped me.
These Roots and Boots will celebrate my life!
The Paragon Mari Center is located at 711 Paragon Place, Marksville, LA.
Jeanni Ritchie is a country music-loving journalist from Central Louisiana. She can be reached at jeanniritchie54@gmail.com.
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