The Yellow Door Life

A single gal’s Valentine’s Day story. 

A few weeks ago, I was at dinner with a friend and she was detailing all the spots her and a group of friends plan to hit while they were in town visiting. The main event of the trip was to see Taylor Swift when she comes to Nashville in May, and they wanted to check out very important Swift-related spots, including the Bluebird Cafe.

Now, I’m not a Swiftie by definition, so this piece of her musical history was lost on me. My friend went on to tell me a bit about the Bluebird and I was intrigued.

I hopped on their website and looked at their calendar of events only to find my favorite artist was playing there at 9:00 pm on February 14th. How convenient. Of course the tickets were already sold out, but they reserved a handful of first come, first served seats for the night of.

It’s not like I had plans for Valentine’s Day, what with being single and working that day. So I figured why not? Dress yourself up girl, drive yourself to Nashville, and try to see Jordan Davis. 

The outfit I had planned for Valentine’s Day was months in the making. Back around New Year’s, I had picked up adorable black press on nails with gold hearts on them at Ulta. A week or so later, I found a lovely red dress at Kohls. Then at work just recently, I noticed we had a beautiful pair of black and gold heart earrings. I stashed the earrings in my bucket (as we are allowed to do with things we really want to buy) and waited till the week of Valentine’s to get them. 

February 13th

I put on my press on nails, my doggie themed Valentine’s dress, and went to work. My coworkers admired my nails and I pulled out the earrings I had stashed away. The nails were the inspiration for the earrings and they loved how I had paired things together. 

One of the gals I work with who is quickly becoming a friend, asked, “Why don’t you just get them now, you need to be wearing these now, they are so cute.” 

Little did she know I had put off buying the earrings because of financial constraints. 

Before I could even say anything else, she grabbed the earrings out of my hands, and said, “Girl, I’m buying these for you. I don’t care. They are so cute and you need to wear them.”

I insisted she didn’t have to do that, but my heart was so full with her generosity, I let her. 

It’s not very often people do things like that for me and it surprised me, but it reminded me how wonderful people can be if you let them.

I thanked her repeatedly, put the earrings on, and got even more excited for Valentine’s Day. 

February 14th – Morning

I woke up excited. Which, don’t get me wrong, I wake up in a good mood most days, but today I was really ready to see how the day would unfold.

I got dressed up in my Valentine’s Day outfit, went to work, and prayed that something special would happen. 

February 14th – Afternoon

After a fun day at work, getting lots of compliments on my outfit, I made my way home to eat dinner and get ready for the show. 

February 14th – Evening

As I was getting ready to leave the house, I heard the wind whipping through the trees outside my window. 

I got in my car and hoped nothing would come of the weather.

The drive to Nashville was rough. A storm had moved in and it was windier than all giddy up. And raining. On and off during the drive, I thought about heading back home. Between the iffy weather and being tired from working all day, I wasn’t sure I was going to make it through a 9:00 show. 

But I kept going.

Eventually I got to my exit, and after having Maps take me a real interesting way through Green Hills, I made it to the Bluebird. 

I made my way to the back parking lot and seriously contemplated just going back home. There was a long line and it was still raining, and for a moment, I thought, you look stupid coming here alone. 

But I reminded myself that the best things that have happened in the last year have come when I have been brave.

So I got out of my car and walked to the front of the building. 

Once I got to the line, a tall, blond woman said hi to me and let me know that if I didn’t have a ticket, getting into the show from that point in the line would be near impossible. 

I knew it would be a long shot from the get go, and I had the courage to get out of the car, so I might as well stick it out till someone tells me I am absolutely not getting a seat at this show. 

The woman and I started talking and she told me how she had flown into Nashville just to go to the Ashley McBryde show the following night and wanted to see what other shows she could hit in the meantime. She showed me pictures of her foster dogs, told me about her work as a paramedic back in Kansas City, and reminded me the importance of taking trips alone. 

I figured even if I didn’t get to see Jordan Davis, at least I got to have a great conversation with a perfect stranger. Whose name I never learned. 

It rained on and off. The wind blew. My feet hurt in my boots. But I wasn’t going to move from that line. 

After watching all the ticket holders make their way into the show, and being asked if the line I was standing in was for the reserved or hopeful, I started to wonder if my braveness would pan out. So did my friend in line, but we stayed. 

Eventually the manager came out to tell us there were no seats left, but she would bring us in, in small groups to listen to one song and take a picture. 

Not the way I hoped the night would go, but I thought, 

I get to hear him sing one song.

As the line made its way closer to the door, I knew this was why I got out of the car. I may not get to hear the whole set, but I get to hear him play. 

Once it was my turn, I popped through the doorway of the cafe and watched as Jordan explained the history of how the song he was about to play got written. He joked about how one of his producers heard him wrong over the phone and the lyrics got taken down incorrectly. I watched the way his eyes lit up as he described the process of creating a song that would take root in someone’s heart somewhere. 

And then he played. 

Hearing a song for the first time is always a transcendent experience. But hearing your favorite artist sing a song you have never heard before as you stand in the doorway, knowing it’s the only song you’ll get to hear that night. Now that’s something entirely different. 

I cried. I felt like those few minutes lasted forever. Before I knew it, I realized he was almost done playing and hadn’t gotten my picture. I snapped this terrible photo and walked back out into the chilly night air.

My line friend had already left in her Uber, so I turned to the manager and made one last attempt, “Is there any way there is room for a single.” 

She looked at me with empathy, but said, “No, sorry, we are at capacity.”

There was my final no, and with that, I knew I had done what I could on this Valentine’s Day adventure. And it was all part of it. All part of my story.

I headed back to the parking lot and held onto the one song as long as I could. 

The next time I worked, it was the first song that came on the radio and I just had to smile. Every time I hear that song play now, I’ll remember that night I was brave enough to venture into Nashville on Valentine’s Day alone, a single gal on a mission to prove that magic still exists in this world if you’re brave enough to look for it.