Six minutes gone and I'm still alive

Next weekend, for my birthday, we are having our very first weekend getaway! You see, my favorite band in the world is Seven Nations. They are a Celtic rock band named for the original seven Celtic nations and composed of bagpipes, fiddle, drums, electric guitars and keyboard. I used to go to their concerts in DC and Virginia when I was going to school in College Park, but I haven't seen them in quite awhile and I was hoping that they would come to the St. Louis area soon so I could see them here.

I told Brandon that I wanted to go to their concert for my birthday whenever they come to town, so we have been dilligently checking up on their tour schedule for an area not too far from here. Last month they were playing in Michigan and though that is quite a stretch from St. Louis, we were going to risk it, but somehow things didn't work out for that weekend. I think Brandon was more concerned than I was about it because I knew they would come and it didn't matter when I got to see them.

Finally, one day after work last week, Brandon asked me if I had plans for my birthday weekend. It didn't even cross my mind that it was a Seven Nations concert. There is an annual Irish festival almost four hours west of St. Louis in Kansas City, Missouri and the band scheduled three different concert slots there. They will be playing among other greats such as Switchback and the Prodigals.

To make things even more romantic, we are staying both nights at a beautiful, old bed and breakfast about forty minutes away from the festival. I am so excited! It will be so nice to get away from seminary and the city and just be able to relax for the weekend without any house responsibilities. What's really neat is that Liguori lets us take off a day for our birthday, so it is a three-day weekend for me. I am going to go to class and chapel with Brandon and then we will hit the road for Kansas City.

I have been reading a lot of these books that you are supposed to read when you are first married, for instance The Honeymoon's Over! by Dennis and Barbara Rainey and they all suggest that couples should take mini-breaks from daily life and spend time rejeuvenating as a couple, so I definitely think this will be good for us. Seminary life is rough as we don't get to see each other much, but this weekend will be just us.