My friend Jill O____ has been in a country-western band since... well, forever, really.
And from time to time through the years, they've gone on tour.
So it wasn't a complete surprise to find out they were in Madison, except that I didn't know anything about it.
Still, somehow, I was able to catch their show. But Jill was so busy setting up, and performing, and then tearing things down afterward that we couldn't spend any time together. We didn't even get a chance to say hello. And then they were gone, on to the next gig.
Life on the road ain't easy. There are plenty of country-western songs that will tell you so.
The next morning I found myself on the University of Wisconsin campus, at an office inside the student center.
It was a busy place, with lots of people milling around and standing in lines, talking among themselves. What were they all doing here?
That's when I saw a sign on the wall, hastily written in thick black marker. It said there would be a meeting that afternoon to support "anyone who experienced emotional fallout from last night's musical act."
My first thought was, "Huh. That's very Madison." My second was, "I wonder if they'll let me attend?"
