April 2019 Magnolia

We had a route plan.A plan that would take us from Little Rock through the Ozarks and into Oklahoma.What I didn’t know, and only Tricia would know, is that we were really only 6 hours from Waco, home of the Chip and Joanna Gaines empire known to its followers as Magnolia.Tricia has been there before.I had not.I resisted.Next thing I knew we were on our way through Texarkana toward Waco.The clincher was learning online that Johnnyswim was holding a special invitation only CD release party at The Silos the next night. Tricia was up half the night trying to score tix for this exclusive album release performance.The release was for 200 lucky Johnny Swim fans only.We could not get tix but we were going nonetheless.Where to stay that would be close to the Silos?We landed at the Waco fairgrounds.A patch in the parking lot with electrical hookup and water.And horses.Lots of horses. With a horseshow scheduled for the grounds the next day, we could hear busy work crews getting the grounds ready.Off to Magnolia in the morning.After a short wait, we got our seats in the very popular Magnolia Table, the Gaines’ signature restaurant.When they finally called our name we were escorted to a small single table by the front door. If that wasn’t inspiring enough, in comes Johnnyswim - the Ramirez family and band entourage.They are seated next to us.Amanda was very nice and busy with her 8 month old, but she found time to chat with us.As soon as she learned we had not been able to get tix, she had the tour manager put us on the guest list.That evening we were treated to a Johnnyswim show, which started with an appearance by Chip and Johanna for an onstage Q&A session with the band.A beautiful night of music in the old barn on the Magnolia site, under a full moon.