Lady Antebellum

This week I’ve been in Houston for most of the week at Nearing’s first off-site Communications planning meeting. Although Nearing is headquartered in New Jersey, our biggest office is in my hometown of Houston, and we have more employees there than at headquarters, including a group of communications people who report to a regional vice president who reports to one of my bosses.

On Thursday we visited the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo, the second largest rodeo in the world. On the way to our seats, I heard someone calling my name, and I was shocked to see my old colleague Norm, with whom I worked for seven years in Houston. He and his wife were there and I was overjoyed to see them, especially by chance and because we’ve missed each other the last couple times I’ve been to Houston despite our efforts to meet up. Sometimes life throws you small miracles that you can only wonder at and be thankful for.

In our suite we enjoyed a scrumptious barbecue dinner and watched the rodeo, which included bull riding, bronco busting, calf roping and wrestling, mutton busting (little kids riding on sheep), a calf scramble (older kids chasing after and subduing the animals for prizes) and chuck wagon racing. This race was a particularly close and exciting finish!

Here’s what bull riding looks like:

Plus there was an indoor fireworks show that preceded a concert by Lady Antebellum, one of the few country acts I’m familiar with. We left right after they sang their hit song, “Need You Now” so we could beat the rush and get to bed before our early flights home in the morning.

Here's the band singing the first verse of their new single, "Dancin' Away With My Heart":

All in all, it was a very fun, very busy, and very exciting day – and a very memorable trip.