Hugo Duarte and A1A

I just recently had a weekend so awesome that I am still feeling the effects of it a week later.  When I go through something like that, I want to try and put words down to describe it.  If I am somewhat successful, then this will be a type of monument to bring back the memories of that weekend.

It starts on Saturday, July 13, 2013, after an Alumni Lunch (which is always special itself).  After I left the luncheon, I went straight to The Dallas Zoo for their Safari Nights Concert Series.  Jeff Pike and A1A was performing that night. I met some friends from The Lone Star Parrot Head Club plus a couple of others, who were already there.  We went to a couple of exhibits before heading to the concert area to make sure that we were front and center for the concert.

Now one thing that you might need to know is that Hugo and Jeff are both friends and a couple of my favorite musicians.  That Saturday I was surrounded by friends who know me and liked me anyway,  and they made sure that I knew that I was a part of the group.  You see, I have spent most of my life being an outcast when it comes to being with a group of my peers, and even though I should know better, I still have this expectation that when people know me, I will be excluded.  This evening my friends made sure that this did not happen.

Every-time that I have seen Hugo or Jeff, I have always felt like they were very happy to see me.  They are this way for everyone that they know.  It is a great part of their personality.  That weekend was no different.  Jeff even introduced us to a friend who had came up from Houston.  She is now a friend of mine as well.  That is always great also.  It seems every time that Hugo and Jeff come around, I make new friends and that also made that weekend great.

Now the A1A concert was a great concert.  Music was so good, that people started dancing without a dance floor anywhere around them.  I did not want to leave that place that night.  In fact I didn't leave until they turned off the lights in the park.

Now Sunday the 14 was a house concert with Hugo.  Now to be fair, Brian Burns and Don Burke were there and played also.  They were great also and I really like them, but Hugo was the Headliner in my book.  I was surrounded by the same friends that I had met at the Zoo a few hours before plus several more.  They were still friends too.  :)   Now the week that led up to these concerts was a week of roller-coaster emotions.  They had every right to be very emotional and distraught, and even though they were a bit more subdued than normal, they seemed to be ready for some music to soothe the soul like only music can.

The concert was still going strong when I left, but it had been one of the best weekends that I had had in a long time.  For the first time in a very long time my smile came back.  I had forgotten that I could even smile like that.  I mean I smiled and laughed and had a great time.

Now I do not know what will happen in the future, but for one weekend, I could and did smile and smiled a lot.  That makes for a great experience.