Music saves me and soothes me when the pain level, thick like a fog sits on my back, gets too great to think or write.
Last Friday night Beverly “Guitar” Watkins and her band, The Meter Tones, played in the municipal parking lot on Main Street in downtown Stone Mountain, Georgia. She played with her son, B.J. and rocked and cajoled the crowd into a community of believers swaying and dancing to her rhythms.
I almost didn’t go because the pain makes me want to curl up in the middle of my bed and surround myself with heat or ice packs, but I didn’t. Thankfully. You have to move when you hear this seventy-something woman make sounds filled with joy and sorrow laying out a lifetime steeped in southern whiskey, greens, and country gospel.
Her wisdom and humor reminded me to relax and keep going. After the performance as she worked the crowd “old-school” thanking the community and shaking hands, I recognized a former PD colleague walk toward me. While we shook hands, I realized my pain had lessened. I walked away lighter with less pain.
Thank you, Miss Watkins, for sharing the magic of your art and fostering community.