A man and his mission

Life without a mission is a life unlived. It is said that music cleanses the soul and I thought that I had an understanding of Ronjoy’s love of music but clearly I had no clue how much cleansing his soul still needed.  As we arrive in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee for a couple of days of more rest and relaxation with no set agenda except to avoid Dollywood (another amusement park). I could finally have a couple of days of not having to watch out for Ronjoy’s typical mischievous antics, so I thought.  In the wee hours of the night, unbeknownst to me, my beloved happened upon a local TV station which featured a couple by the name of Joan and Jerry singing a sweet song about the mountains of Tennessee and thus began Ronjoy’s mission.  Innocently enough he started to search for their calendar of appearances as he decided in his own mind that he had to see them perform live and purchase some of their CDs.  I wake in the morning only to discover that we must hit the road and get to Gatlinburg in Tennessee as they regularly perform at this little out of the way place in the hills. As we are snaking through the treacherous mountain roads that I volunteer to drive, his enthusiasm cannot be contained until of course, the unspeakable happens. We reach our destination only to be informed that Joan and Jerry are on vacation this week and will not be performing.  The drive back was quiet and the sparkle in his eyes was gone. While I interpreted this as disappointment, I could not have been more wrong.  I suggested we go into the town of Gatlinburg and see if we can find another local band in hopes to cheer Ronjoy up.  I am delighted to find a contemporary band called Monroeville playing very upbeat hillbilly tunes and thought he would quickly forget about Joan and Jerry.

These guys were simply awesome

We sit tapping our feet and Ronjoy keeps excusing himself throughout the show and ducks out of sight in the back, each time only explaining that he will be right back. Upon his final return he leans over and whispers to me that he was able to track Joan and Jerry’s telephone number down and had been calling them repeatedly with no answer and finally left a message at their home!  I am mortified and delicately explain to him that it is not appropriate to bother this elderly couple at their home.  After the little behavior modification lecture from me, he agrees and says that he will give up the chase. I can see that he is thoroughly enjoying the current band on stage but I can also see that he pulls out the iPad and starts playing with it. In about five minutes he leans over again with a gleam in his eye and says “I found their home address.” I am now at my wits end and tried to explain that there is something called STALKING in the US and it is illegal and we are not going to show up at these peoples’ home!  I proceed to go into my customary sermon mode when his mobile phone rings.  It is Jerry!!!! He is on his way to meet Ronjoy in Gatlinburg, as his wife Joan insisted this poor gentleman drive approximately one hour to simply meet my husband and give him the CDS he was so desperately seeking.

Ronjoy is delighted and bursting with excitement and off we go again to find this little store in the hills of Gatlinburg to meet Jerry.  Jerry showed up as promised with 4 of their CDs in hand and we visited with him for about an hour and he shared with us the stories behind many of their songs and both Jerry and Ronjoy were delighted in finding each other and their new found friendship.  I of course apologize to Jerry for our intrusion, but he said he had to meet Ronjoy because of the message of desperation left on his answering machine, and he was so touched by this.

The sweet smile of victory

Lessons learned by me, first I will never get a break from having to monitor my husband, second, it will never matter how much I watch him he will still sneak about regardless, and lastly I cannot get in the way of a man and his mission!