I woke up this morning feeling like I've walked 9 miles. Perhaps I did. Made me want to have hijacked a scooter...
After a big breakfast, we headed for this morning's concert and activities.
Yours truly managed to secure a spot as a contestant in the "Name That Tune" contest. There's two abilities I have in this world that I'm pretty confident in: writing, and "Name That Tune" contests. Now, I've won a few of these contests--prizes being anywhere from a few cents to gift certificates. I'm also the person you call if you're on a game show about to win a big pot or a bet on the line and you've got a music trivia question. So I'm feeling I've got a good shot here when it comes to knowing Mark's songs. I knew one of the other competitors would be my dear friend Teresa, who kept assuring me she wasn't really good at this sort of thing and she would probably lose. This might be another easy win, I thought. But then I found out the other competitors would be Kate and Sharon. Two who between them have gone to just about every show on Mark's tour this year. And there was some studying for the contest going on, for heaven's sake. Well, I decided to take the "I don't need no doggone prep" route and let the chips fall where they may.
Turns out it wasn't a typical "Name That Tune" contest where you hear the notes and clues and challenge as to how many notes you can name the song in. Instead, Woody Wright read the clues, we heard the opening notes and had to guess. So there was Kate, me, Teresa, Sharon, and Bill "the all-knowing maestro" paired with last minute contestant, Mark's self-proclaimed #1 fan/elf, Muriel. In my case, I knew every song that was given to me just by the clues alone, so I didn't miss a one. But the eventual winner was Kate by the luck of the draw of being next in the pecking order when someone missed a question (and far be it from her to miss any!). Though some agreed I was the clear winner (astounded by the fact that I didn't even need to hear the full clue!) I officially placed second, but it's all good--I and the others came away with lovely parting gifts (Woody and Mark CDs, t-shirts and "Mary Did You Know" autographed books).
After "Name That Tune" came more music with an extended set from LordSong, where they did crowd favorites "Lord of the Dance" and "Day Three" (and Kim asked for prayer for her dad, who sadly is having a recurrence of cancer). We showed some love to Stan Whitmire and heard him play more lovely holiday piano. Mark moved often between funny and serious during this show when sharing about God's grace and how God can use us broken folks, and needing to be peacemakers and pray for peace. Mark sang "Home Where I Belong", "Make It Real", and "Let There Be Peace On Earth". It all ended up with a Christmas song singalong. I don't like to sing along all that much myself--I'd much rather hear everyone else and take it all in.
Now really, I don't mean to be a broken record about this and I mean no disrespect or slight to any of the other great artists who have been with us these few days. But I have to say this again, and in talking with some of my fellow trip-ers, I'm not alone...Mark's singing has just been brilliant these past couple of days. Even when he was leading the singing for the carols portion, the best part for me was listening to him. Simply beautiful.
Oh, and speaking of piano--Mark actually played a little piano for us and did a pretty good job. Then Woody and Barbara Fairchild got into the act. Stan, no worries, you still have your job security.
After the show, it was on the shuttle bus and off to Minnesota, uh, I mean the ICE exhibit. I must say I got a cold nostalgic feeling walking through the exhibit in a parka (first time I've worn one since last March in St. Paul). I thought I was back at the St. Paul Winter Carnival as I walked through the ice sculpture area, except the SPWC never had sculptures along the line of the nativity and angel (aside from the ice palace every few years). One thing I never did back in St. Paul was go on the ice slide, so I did go on it here. I told everyone that the cold air they felt walking through had been my world in the winter time the past 18 years in St. Paul, getting up and out in it early to catch a bus for work. To answer all the questions, no I don't miss that at all.
I left my trademark red hat behind for the ICE tour and figured no one would notice. Wrong. A dozen people in the line asked me where my hat was. I should have known better. Don't worry, it will be back tonight for the finale.
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