Still on east coast time, I walked into the hotel lobby early, before breakfast hours, looking for coffee. Immediately, a lone, older lady sitting at the counter struck up a conversation. We chatted a few minutes, and she mentioned that she had been on the road with Johnny and June Cash. I was kind of wondering if everyone in Nashville was a name dropper, and I wasn't really sure I believed her. A few more minutes of polite conversation, and I headed back to the room with my coffee.
I mentioned the conversation to Harold, not knowing that he too had encountered her on his trip to the lobby for coffee. He mentioned that she was right in one thing. Johnny and June Cash were indeed buried in the cemetery about half a block up the street.
A bit later, we headed to the lobby for breakfast. She was still there. She was chatting with the staff. Apparently, she spends a lot of time in that lobby. She invited us to sit with her at the counter. A little hesitant, we decided to join her. She told us her name, Peggy, and volunteered that she lived a few blocks away, that Nashville had changed a lot, and that she hardly ever went downtown anymore.
Eventually, she went to her car and brought back one of the books she had written. We glanced through it, noting that the inside jacket cover described her as someone who never met a stranger. We certainly agreed with that assessment.
After breakfast, with a little time to kill, we walked over to the Hendersonville Memory Gardens Cemetery. We never would have known had we not met Peggy in the lobby.
