CONNECT the ...
A short story from October 2024 in honor of a fun weekend with Kyla Borgendale
Bzzzz. Bzzzzz. Bzzzzz.
I slide my cellular device out of my pocket. Look down.
“Mommy Smith”
I press accept.
“Hey”
“Heyyy!!”
pause
“So I want to go to some concerts! But I can’t get your Dad to go with me. I want to see Judah. He plays in Charleston on a Wednesday night and then Nashville on a Saturday would you want to go with me to either of those!?
I think
but not too long
“Um yes, the Saturday night show should work"
Nashville for the weekend. This will be great.
“Okay, well, look at plane tickets and let me know!”, she replies.
We hang up.
My mom has always been a pretty last-minute planner. Honestly, I’m down for it. I didn’t have class on Friday or Monday, so nothing held me back.
Flash forward. I have a similar conversation with my best friend Kyla, inviting her to tag along. The conversation ended with us booking plane tickets and a few squeals. The girls were going to Nash!
So, on October 25th, we loaded the plane. Coincidentally sat across from a fellow Liberty Student on the empty plane leaving Roanoke. He didn’t have a phone. Something you remember these days.
My brother Jake, Nashville Local, picked us up from the airport and drove us to our Airbnb. Tomorrow would be a fun day.
Saturday, we awoke and strolled around town, exploring the romanticized 12th South. Ending the day with dinner with the whole crew and a giant burger at my favorite spot. At dinner, I posed the question, “If you were to see a celebrity just casually walking around 12S, who would it be?”
My younger brother’s friend, Wyatt, a music aficionado, responded
“John Mayer”
“Ooo you're right”
“What about you? What would you say, Bekah?”
“I feel like Ruston Kelley is lurking around one of these corners”
“Haha, who even is that?”
Wyatt responded.
While everyone else began to chatter amongst themselves, paying no mind to my remarks.
We continued to fill up on burgers and sweet potato fries, and dinner ended.
Following dinner, we freshened up and found ourselves walking into the show.
My mom was nervous about seats, so she purchased actual tickets instead of General Admission. We stood in the banister watching the opening acts. They were cool artists we had never heard of. As the acts ended, I pointed out how the floor was still spacious. My mom agreed and suggested that we go down to the floor. I was game.
So we traveled down to the bottom. We decided to stand on the far left side of the stage, where we would have the most room while staying close to the stage.
We chatted, excitement in our lungs, waiting for Judah to take the stage. Then, mid-conversation, something caught my eye.
My face froze.
Examining my field of view. A rush of awe began to fill my lungs, but quickly dissipated as my head justified denial.
No, not him. Bekah, you only think that because you just made that joke.
A few minutes passed. I try to focus back on the conversation and giggles.
We snap a photo.
I glance back over. Then my smile morphs into a look of wonder.
Wait. Wait. Now he’s talking to Judah’s Wife.
Hold up.
Wait, is that Ruston’s girlfriend, too?
Omg, that’s Ruston Kelley. It’s him.
I play it cool,
say nothing
But then, I had this great conviction. A few weeks prior, On October 6th, I was on Instagram and noticed a post by Ruston Kelley. He quoted that he had found God. He posted pictures of his new girlfriend and the book The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis.
Things turned around for him, too.
I have to say something.
So I did.
Walked up to the guy. Waved.
“Ruston right”
He looks my way, curious.
“Hey, yeahh”
I gave the classic fan intro, but then I said what I needed to.
“I saw how you recently professed your Faith, and it meant a lot to me. I just walked through a really hard season, and it meant a lot”.
And then we got married.
Haha. (In actuality) Then he introduced me to his girlfriend.
And it was sweet. Nothing crazy. It was just a moment to encourage the guy and for me to look back on and see how my own life had changed.
It’s special when the unexpected encounters put things in perspective.
And now I have that forever. And it’s a sick story, in my opinion. Haha.
In the bigger picture of things. This moment meant a lot to me because it felt like the connecting of a dot. It was two different juxtaposing seasons of my life coming together. I started listening to Ruston Kelley in 2023 after the accident because his music had a depressing twang and longing undertones that I deeply resonated with. I could hear the ache and questioning in his words, and that’s what most good writing does: puts words (or in this case lyrics) to the reader’s heart.
His transformation seemed to parallel mine over the past year. Following this summer, fall was the first season that began to look up again. Like the seasons, my life was beginning to blossom again, and as it appeared, so was his!
I think God was giving me a little wink at this moment. My friend Kyla and my Mom were on this trip with me, both of whom walked by my side in the hurt and anger of last year—two people who chose to keep loving me when I didn’t know how to return this love.
Kinda like God. I’ve learned.
It was a sweet memory. As I look back on this story, and it lingers, I think about God, connecting the dots. We’ll never know the whole story in this life, but wow, I’m excited to keep watching it unfold.
Look for the dots. Write them down. God gets on our level and has great humor.
Till next time.
With love,
Bek
I love your writing Bekah. I need to write down more dots 🩷