“Dreams Really Did Come True For This Fan”
My life has always revolved around two things, golf and music, but Country music was never on my radar. To be honest, I hated it. Life already had given me enough ups and downs that hearing about a guy who lost his dog, his girl and his truck or a gal who’d been cheated on and dumped just turned me off from that genre.
After divorce #2, I swore I was never gonna divorce a third time. Sound familiar? Well, that was my line. Then I heard it in a song in 2017. Yup, 2017. It was a traumatic and transitional year for me. My Dad passed away the day before his 90th birthday and I was in a hiatus from a 5-year relationship.
One evening while having dinner with a friend, he played THE album that changed my life FOREVER. The first few songs were OK, but had those country lyrics that, as mentioned, turned me off. But then, he started singing along to a song about a woman who’s self-confidence was shot, dreaming of a better life, hoping to someday find her perfect white horse prince. I FROZE. I asked him to play it again and he did. This time I CRIED. By the time the song was repeated a third time, I knew the lyrics almost by heart. DREAMS. Then to hear the title song on the album No Shirt, No Shoes, No Problem?!?! That was it for me, I was hooked.
Kenny and his music began to fill a void in my life. The lyrics of his songs made me stop, relax and enjoy life. Albums purchased filled my car’s 6-CD player and NSR on SiriusXM radio when they weren’t being played. I read everything I could find about him like I was cramming for a college final. See, I realized I was late coming to the beach party. I had 20 years to catch up on! I am a fan of Jimmy Buffett so how could I have missed Kenny? Hm, Country. How could I have been such a snob to a music genre??? Lesson learned.
As a PGA golf professional, my life revolves around weather so when the hurricane season of 2017 was upon us, my eyes and ears were glued to what was going on in the Virgin Islands during “Irmaria”. I donated to Love for Love City for the aftermath and when the hurricane relief concert “Trying to Reason with Hurricane Season” was put on by Jimmy Buffet, Kenny, Toby Keith, Jake Owen and Caroline Jones, I bought the t-shirt and watched the concert on Margaritaville.TV I vowed to visit the VI’s and give back how I could as a tourist.
2018 was a year I will always cherish. My five-year relationship was back on. A marriage proposal was accepted. A destination wedding and honeymoon was planned for St John, USVI in July. In May, I saw Kenny not once but twice in one week for the Trip Around the Sun Tour!!!! At the Austin show, I met up with Christie R. who I had met through WTTS Facebook page. Christie, who lives on St John, friended me when I mentioned I was going to STJ to get married on July 4th and she said we would share the same anniversary date!! At that concert, Chris, my future husband, and I were interviewed by Deanna Kay and Slippers of NSR about our upcoming wedding and why we chose STJ! That night was a whirlwind and boy was it HOT! Then came Dallas three days later. WOW! As we were walking through the RV lot, I looked up to see Connie and Michelle right in front of me. I felt like such a goofball when I said “Hey! You are the Sandbar Girls”!!!!!! And we also met Intern Jordan! We all hit it off right then and there. Seeing Kenny in a football stadium, with 65,000 fans singing EVERY SINGLE WORD was surreal. Who cares that my ears rang for two days after!
Chris and I headed to STJ in July 2018 for our wedding and honeymoon. All those places and characters you hear about on NSR that are down in the islands are real and wonderful. Captain Bob Shinners, The Ghost from Jost, Morgan’s Mango, The Quiet Mon, Woody’s and of course all the people and places on Jost Van Dyke! A highlight of that trip was meeting Ivan of Ivan’s Stress Free Bar. When I told him I was a Kenny fan and part of the No Shoes Nation, he looked at me put his hand on his heart and said “if I had two hearts, Kenny is one of them.” I cried. We hugged. It was magical.
2018 finished up with David Lee Murphy’s concert in St. Pete, FL in December. There, Chris and I met up with Connie and Kathy L. for the free concert and were pleasantly surprised when some of Kenny’s band showed up to play for the lead in groups! At one point, Connie and I were certain that DLM was going to have an on-stage guest, but to no such avail. It was still awesome to see the band together again!
WTTS gave me a lifetime bond when Anne Heino and I friended one another. You met Anne, who lives in Helsinki, Finland, in the first episode of “Beyond the Sandbar” back in October, 2020. Almost weekly Facetime calls with her talking about family, life and of course Kenny have taken place since then. The highlight of our friendship was meeting face to face for the first time in Tallahassee, 2019 during the Songs for the Saints tour. It was Anne’s first trip stateside and Kenny concert. With us that evening was Alesa D. and her husband, John whom we had also met through a Kenny Chesney Facebook fanpage. Though Chris and I had purchased tickets in the Sandbar, thanks to Deanna Kay and NSR, we ALL got to experience Kenny that night in the Sandbar. Up close and personal. Even got Kenny to sign my NSR hat. PRICELESS.
2019 did not end there. In October, Chris and I headed back to the VIs for the 2nd Welcome To The Sandbar Escape. So many more friendships were made that week. Like Persephone & Russ from Michigan, Shannon J., Kimber R., Michelle W., Kendall Z, Melissa, Michelle F., just to name a few. When the Sandbar Girls schedule their next trip to Virgin Islands, do NOT give it a second thought…..GO!!!!!!!!
When Connie and Michelle asked me to pen my story, I was humbled. My life has been forever changed and lifetime memories have been made because of Kenny Chesney, his music, his island lifestyle, No Shoes Radio and his fans who are now life-long friends. All in such a very short period of time. Even I am surprised. Divorce and starting over is never easy but music has a way to get you through it. I won’t be divorced a third time. My husband, Chris is my white horse prince. Thank you Kenny for writing Dreams. It just took me twenty years to hear it.
My Love to The No Shoes Nation Family,
Janet Randall
