Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
    the people he chose for his inheritance.
 From heaven the Lord looks down
    and sees all mankind;
 from his dwelling place he watches
    all who live on earth—
 he who forms the hearts of all,
    who considers everything they do. – Psalm 33:12-15

Friday, in a long-postponed outing that started out as Rebekah’s Christmas present before being cancelled by a snowstorm then rescheduled for June, we launched the Subaru in the direction of Raleigh and enjoyed probably our favorite iteration of date-night, which is “dinner and a show.”

Dinner was a wonderful meal at Raleigh Overlook Restaurant, and the show was “Garrison Keillor at the Performing Arts Center.”

I will make this brief as I have no time to write today. But suffice it to say that everything about Friday was pitch-perfect. Here is how it played out:

First, it was already raining when I woke up. A morning of lovely precipitation for a town desperate to eperience a little refreshing drink (The Good Stuff).

Next I took an enjoyable thirty-minute bicycle ride in the early afternoon. Then we drove to Raleigh for a delicious dinner before walking across the street to the Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts.

If you have any warm memories of Public Radio’s long-running A Prairie Home Companion show then you will understand why we enjoyed Garrison Keillor’s performance so much.

Keillor, who also has a rich singing voice, started by inviting the audience to join him in our National Anthem. It was a beautiful moment.

I believe it is important to remember that, while we can all find ourselves in a hundred different places on the great arc of the political and cultural spectrum, we still share this passionate, heartfelt, visceral love for our country.

And that is how the evening went. Story after story told in Keillor’s inimitable style punctuated by the occasional outbreak of song.

Audience participation means shared sentiments, shared values, shared love for America, shared anthems of hope sung in rich harmony and deep faith, shared appreciation for great storytelling.

This is our story, friends. This is our country. This is our hope for the future. This land is your land, this land is my land….

This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York island,
From the redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters;
This land was made for you and me.

Enjoy the photographs – DEREK