well, hello Dolly....

last week we drove through sevierville, tn (home of dolly parton) twice on our way to and from thanksgiving. it was exactly eight years ago last week that i fell in love with dolly while driving home for the holiday from college and happened upon the WSEV radio station that was only playing her music and a recently released album "Just because I'm a Woman." I'd always though of her as something of a hokey, down home joke, but when i truly listened to her lyrics, i knew she was speaking deep, powerful truths...specifically to me.

I thought of Dolly and made boone listen to that same album as we were sitting in traffic in knoxville.

not only is her music incredible, but her style is unmistakeable. 

growing up in south mississippi, we had a saying "the bigger the hair, the closer to God." i guess some folks may have been joking about that, but not me. oh, no. since high school i've worked hard to have big, voluminous blonde hair. while all my friends were flat ironing their hair to pieces, i was using hot rollers (hot rollers in high school! in the year 2000!)

now i use a giant curling iron and velcro rollers to pump my hair up, but the concept is nearly identical. i have a feeling that it was dolly parton's early look (before "backwoods barbie" and all that surgery) with her flirty, fun personality that gave me the idea that this is what southern women could (and should) look and act like. (ie: they should be ferociously independent, truly smart and 'with it', able to make fun of themselves, care deeply about their appearance, and make men feel special and breathless.)

then, in college, when i learned that she donated entire libraries of books to children in her hometown and rescued injured bald eagles i realize that she truly was someone to be idolized.
and did i mention that she's for marriage equality? score ANOTHER ONE for Dolly. Yep, she once said, "Sure, why can’t they get married? They should suffer like the rest of us." ;)

i finally got to see her perform on my cousin's birthday a few years ago, and even though we were in the ABSOLUTE farthest rows away, she was still incredible..and so fun...and super sparkly...and her boobs looked enormous even from that great distance.  ;)

 

anyway, when i meet another Dolly devotee (my friend Jon from Grad school and my coworker Sally to name two of the most important) i feel like we share an extra special bond because we know how truly incredible she is...we get it.

in fact, sally told me a few weeks ago that there's a new dolly movie coming out in January. I have NO IDEA about the plot, but i  do know that i'll be buying a ticket for opening night and will try to introduce as many people as I can to the mountain angel.

Is there someone you love but no one else gets?