In honor of Mother’s Day, I got friends in low places

Click here for a Washington Post video of lawmakers serenading Garth Brooks. It’s every bit as awkward as you’re thinking it might be.

In honor of Mother’s Day today, lots of you are probably taking Mom out to dinner, buying her flowers, giving her sweet, sappy cards covered in cursive writing and glitter.

Remembering my mom, I give you a bad karaoke of Friends in Low Places.
Why?

My mother was a woman who loved country music and her local dive bar, Snip and Dales.
When she was in the hospital dying of cancer, she said that after her funeral, she wanted me to write a $1,000 check to her little watering hole to offer an open bar to friends and family following the church service.

At a place like Snips, $1,000 goes a long way. I think beers were something like three bucks and mixed drinks were about the same, so dozens of us hung out there for many hours working to put a dent in Mom’s bar tab.

As day turned to evening, the bar’s karaoke night started up. At first, I bristled and wondered why they couldn’t have canceled karaoke for the week, seeing as how we’d taken over the entire bar for the day with my mom’s wake.

Then I’m pretty sure it was my cousin Ed who suggested that my cousins and I do a song for my mom. Drunk and grieving, but happy to be together, we all sang what I’m sure was a terrible but deeply heartfelt version of Friends in Low Places.

Hanging out in the little dive my mom loved, it felt like a perfect sendoff.

So I’m probably the only person getting misty about a barroom singalong today, but Mom, this one’s for you:

Click here for a DailyMotion video of Garth Brooks singing Friends in Low Places live in Central Park, to the delight of a huge cheering crowd.

Related blog posts about losing a mother:

I'm Colleen Newvine, and I would love to help you navigate your evolution or revolution
Let’s work together

4 Comments

Leave a reply

Leave a Reply