Mutt March with Miranda Lambert

miranda lambert built a business, muttnation foundation, with her mom, bev lambert, a whole decade ago to raise awareness of animals in shelters and to promote the idea that "shelters are not a scary place for animals", so it is OKAY to adopt an animal from there! the lambert duo uses miranda's platform to get shelter pets adopted and onto their happily ever after. it is a genius idea to use miranda's platform for benevolent reasons, so then it does not go to waste and it is from the heart considering it is one of her biggest passion..."mutts and music" as miranda and her team always say!

​in 2017, miranda led a group of pink-shirt-wearing-people from nissan stadium to the country music hall of fame park, which is behind bridgestone arena. this was the first ever muttnation march and it brought about a thousand people together to support the puppies. the first year was such a success that they did it again this year, 2019! they got ALL pups adopted at their booth in Fan Fair X both years! how amazing! i have attended both marches and both were so incredible to watch. i was not planning on going to cma fest 2019...until two weeks before the first day of the festival. i saw miranda was doing the march and i knew i had to go back again to watch the breath-taking event unfold. 

i had a good feeling about this year's mutt march. my gut feeling is correct 99% of the time, so i have learned to just listen to it no matter what risks are involved. there were also clear cut signs that i was meant to be in nashville that week. i officially booked my trip one week away from the day i left williamsburg. semi-spontaneous and so wonderful! 

the march day started with us getting up at 5am...a little extra, but worth it! we wanted to get towards the front of the march and we ended up right behind the banner. i had a feeling that miranda's husband, brendan mcloughlin, would be at the march but i did not expect him to be walking around when we got there. we were walking in as he was walking out, so my jaw dropped and i probably looked like i had just seen a ghost...or maybe a whole cluster of them. my mom congratulated him on the marriage since i could not talk AT ALL, and he looked so happy when my mom said that. i can't even express how happy he looked!  i ended up meeting him later and took a picture with him. i did not want to crowd him since i assumed he would be that day, so i told him that it was okay to refuse a picture, but he was beyond nice and said it was totally fine! we talked a little and that was that. i appreciate him being willing to take time to take a picture with a random fan without hesitation!

i was so happy over that moment that my day was already made. i was just so thankful to be supporting one of my favorite people in my favorite city that i was not expecting anything else to top it. another awesome thing was that a ranfan i know from my hometown was able to stop by nashville for a few hours and she joined us, which made the march even more memorable! 

about an hour later, a tv show host came out to introduce miranda before the march started. miranda smiled and got so happy when she saw the huge crowd. she gave us a quick talk and thanked us (the crowd) for being there. the march started a few minutes later. i yelled "thank you for doing this!" to her and her crew, then she responded with a smile, "thank y'all for coming!". 

the march continued towards the finish line and was full of laughs, meeting new people, and just enjoying the nashville morning with some pups. it concluded at the hall of fame park, which is known as the Chevy Breakout Stage during cma fest week. she did a Q&A session there where she talked new music, starting the business with her mom, and even advocated multiple factors of why we should all "adopt don't shop" as well as get our pets fixed. after about 20-30 minutes of being interviewed, miranda said her goodbye's and her thank you's then stepped off stage. 

the way the venues for cma fest are set up make it easy to go to the side to meet the artists and they will come over to take a picture with you after their set. (cma fest is great for seeing and meeting artists!) i did that for miranda, even though i didn't think she would come out since she went into an area to get interviewed by the tv show host. i left to find some food since i did not eat at all that day, but got the feeling that i referred to at the beginning of this blog. i turned around and started heading back to where the venue was that she had been at and i went to the back since i saw 5 other people standing there. i asked them if they were waiting for miranda, and i was relieved when they said "yes", because i did not want to be standing alone for no reason.

i did not wait long before her bodyguard came out and saw a girl holding a sign saying how much she loved miranda. her bodyguard said "alright, i will do something for you all. i will take you back one by one to meet miranda if  you take a quick picture then let the next person in." i did not think i would get back there since he was talking to the little girl and her family. plus miranda was not doing any meet and greets that week (the bigger artists usually don't). well, next thing i know is that i am lined up against the fence and miranda walks out. y'all, my heart rate spiked like i need to CHILL for real. i just started shaking and crying, because i have wanted miranda to write "It's only worth the time you put in." for such a long time, and i thought i would be getting that written  out within the next few years. i did not even have the slightest feeling that it would be THIS year that i would get it written out.  

the time came for when joey brought me to the other side of the fence to meet miranda and oh my lordy her team is the sweetest. i started tearing up then i said to the lady taking pictures (it might have been her manager-Marion), "i am about to just sob in front of her. thank you for this.", and instead of her team being all judgey, she went "that is totally okay! crying IS allowed." other artists have teams that get annoyed when people cry during the m&g/in front of the artist, so that was one of the sweetest things anyone could have said in that moment! 

artists have different street teams at cma fest that hand out different merchandise for free and fans since it is so hot, and my mom got me one from a record label before i went to meet miranda. thank the lord she did, because miranda took it and signed it when i went up to meet her. while she was signing her name, i asked her if i could get that lyric written out and she smiled then said "of course i can do that!". i started to tell her the story (a 30 second version) of why i wanted that tattoo and then it suddenly felt like a dam broke loose. it was the face-scrunch level of sobbing. the look on her and brendan's face was so genuine and considerate during my story. miranda said "oh god, i'm not cool enough to cry over." which made me and some others laugh. i told her it was for my potential tattoo and she went "you're getting this tattooed??" then her eyes got big. she gave me the fan with the signatures back and then we went to take the picture. she squeezed my shoulder SO tight (!!!) and put her face against mine! it was one of those "it's okay, i'm here for you and i'm on your side" kinda hugs that makes you feel all good and sappy inside. i will never forget that feeling.

after the picture, i thanked her and told her that i was seeing her November 7 in Charlottesville, and she got super smiley and told me that she can't wait for the tour! we ended the meet and greet with a huge hug, then i thanked brendan for letting me get a picture with him earlier that day. i walked back out to let the next person in and thanked joey. i said "thank you so much for doing this! that's the nicest thing ever." and he smiled then said "of course" then said another thing but my mind had completely left the building so i just smiled like a kid in a candy store. after i left, i heard joey say "that's all. we have to leave now.", so i was the second to last one to go. wowowow!!

my mom met up with me on the corner because i called her, and people were looking at me curiously since i was sobbing on the phone. they thought i was some lost kid, so when they asked to help i was like "dude, i'm just super happy. thanks though!" so they were still confused and left. don't know why i felt the need to share that, but i thought it was funny hahaha. my mom ended up seeing miranda on her way to me and said "thank you for making my daughter's day! she loves you so much and this was so unexpected!" so miranda said "you're welcome" then got into the car to leave. 

my mom was so thrilled to see me and to see the happy tears on my face, but one more great thing happened! i was there on the street corner hard core sobbing as if i had just won the lottery when a black truck drove by and guess who was in it. miranda and brendan! they smiled at me and waved, so i waved back and once again, they had the best facial expressions on! miranda was in the seat behind the driver and it looked like she was leaning over to make sure i could see her waving. it was so sweet ahhhh!!

i could go on and on about this day, but i think i will end it here. i am so glad we decided to pack our bags and leave for nashville last minute. it was very much so worth it and an incredible, unique experience.

​if anyone on miranda's team comes across this post, THANK YOU! this was so much more than what i was expecting this trip to be and the time i have waited for this moment certainly paid off even more than i could ever have imagined. how everyone treated me is one of the reasons i continue to support miranda lambert. someone can be beyond talented, but if they don' treat their fans with respect then i am not as interested or willing to keep on going to shows. their generosity just ties the whole thing together. :)

i hope everyone who has read this enjoyed the story of how june 6th unfolded. more cma fest blog posts are to come, so i thought i would start with the greatest one. thank y'all for continuing to share my posts, give me feed back, and so much more! i appreciate it so so much!