Dolly Parton and the Chippendale's Men

 

I was intending to write only about Dolly Parton, how I went to her concert last week, how I was able to check seeing her off my bucket list, and how much I admired and adored her every since I first heard her sing in 1975, the year my mom died. I was a grieving teenager then, and Dolly Parton and her music made me feel less alone. I fell in love with her.

I wasn't a fan of country music back then, and I'm still not, but I stumbled upon Dolly on the Porter Wagner show. Here she is with Porter who looks as if he borrowed an outfit from Liberace. On the show, Dolly would descend on to the stage via a swing while singing Love is Like a Butterfly. She looked like an angel. A sparkly angel. Her outfit glittered, the swing shimmered, and her  hair was as white as angel wings. I was 19, and I missed my mom terribly. Dolly's big smile, sweet voice, and aura of joy and kindness, reminded me of my mom, and I became a fast fan. Since that time, I continued to love Dolly and her big hair, long nails and sassy attitude.

As years passed, I admired her ability to be true to herself, not caring if people criticized her appearance. She writes and sings and plays instruments, and is still going strong in her late 60s. She has worked hard, and is less an angel to me now and more of a self made woman who did what it takes to achieve her goals. She inspires me.

 

 So that was going to be my blog, but then I went to see the Chippendale's perform last Saturday night.

The Chippendales have never been on my bucket list. In fact, I didn't even ask for the night off to go see them. A friend just called at the last minute and said she and some other women  were going and there was an extra ticket. The restaurant gods were on my side, and I got off work early on  Saturday night. So there I was sitting in a showroom surrounded by women screaming and shouting. At first  I was thinking how dumb it all was. Why were all these adult women acting like teenagers? Women of all shapes and sizes and ages, too.

 

 Then the men came on stage. I found myself cheering.  Loudly. There's something about a man with tight abs, tight pants and big, let's just say smile, that makes women downright giddy and a little crazy, too.

These grinning women look as if they just opened up box with a Tiffany's diamond necklace inside. It's just a guy without a shirt. Okay. I admit I was grinning and clapping, too.  As the men swiveled on stage, dropped their pants and ripped off their shirts, I wondered why I wasn't getting bored. The men do basically the same thing over and over again. But they do it so well and look so darn good.

How do they get their shirts to rip so easily?  While sipping cocktails after the show, my friends and I had a long discussion about this perplexing matter. We decided those couldn't be cotton shirts. We couldn't figure out what material is used. Then we discussed how often they must work out to stay in such great shape, and then we pondered other important matters such as if they have girlfriends, if they even like girls, and other intellectual matters that can only be solved while drinking cocktails.

Life is a mixture of expectations and surprises. We all have bucket lists which seem to become even more important to complete as time passes. It's common  to make a list and check stuff off, but how about embracing the unknown? Saying yes to something even if it wasn't in your plan, like watching a group of physically fit men who have no problem getting naked in public dance around a stage.

 

That way if I ever write a memoir, as Dolly did, I will be able to include both the goals I achieved as well as all the beautiful, wacky, risky and fun detours along the road of life. I think Dolly would agree.