My favorite moment of 2016 so far, is shown in one of the photos below, at Gruene Hall. I went to enjoy the beautiful, soul-lifting music of Walt Wilkins, the Mystiqueros, and a few of their friends. What I got was so much more (and always is).

Sometime in the last several songs, Tina started passing around a zip lock baggie of cookies that someone had made for them. I’ve heard about these cookies – their delicious goodness – and you can be certain that it would take something great to convince me to share them (kidding, sort of). Maybe that’s why this act moved me so much, because I’m pretty possessive over food, and especially home baked cookies.

And THEN. THEN! Betty Jo walked in, a few songs before The George’s were set to come on, and danced her heart out in front of the band. People clapped, SMILED SO BIG, maybe cried, and laughed with her. She took a couple seconds to take a sip of her beer (which led to more cheers), and then kept going! I was getting worn out watching this woman, maybe 3 times my age. And why the heck not?! Why NOT dance if you want to – greet 2016 with this energy and amount of F’s given to what everyone else thinks. Be happy. No one else will do it for you. Xoxo