'Fresh Air' in Branson

I stayed up 'til this late hour of 1a.m. tonight conversing with Beverly, our hotel agent. She's a very happy woman and has been dying to get a non-stop game of Catch Phrase going. We've played a few rounds spastically interspersed between guests checking in but haven't really started a non-stop marathon.
She offered me chocolate chips cookies earlier, and I graciously and thankfully accepted. I mean the lady is a real pleaser. She's been working in Branson hotels for a few years now and this is her third month in the Grand Plaza Hotel, a very nice lady indeed. I've had a lot of moments on this trip where I've caught the 'Fresh Air' in Branson, but this woman definitely takes the cake.
The other 'Fresh Air' moments are all sort of interconnected. First off, in Silver City there was a male quartet performing in an amphitheater. The part that really got me was when the main man introduced a few songs by saying "These next few songs are dedicated to them [armed forces] and we want to bring it all to the glory of our lord and savior Jesus Christ." That's something you do not hear very often from the stage anymore. After they finished the first two songs, they sang "I'm Proud to be an American" and everyone in the amphitheater stood up and sang along without prompt. That touched me.
The other significant breath of 'Fresh Air' in Branson came from Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede. For those of you who have not been to a Dixie Stampede show; it starts off separating the left and right half of the amphitheater seating into the 'Northern Union' and the 'Southern Confederacy'. Next the crowd eats while watching performers 'battle' each other in the name of the North and the South. Anyway, at the end of the whole thing Dolly Parton appeared on a screen and brought the two halves together by stating that we are a united country and we heard a rousing version of "Glory Hallelujah!" The elderly members of the crowd led by example a standing ovation -- out of respect, I stood and removed my hat as well.
God and Country -- two things that people nowadays think should be separate for the most part. I wish I could bring back the spirit found here to MS, but it would soon fizzle.
I charge my readers to be more patriotic, and also my Christian readers to be more public with their faith.
And now at 1:30a.m. I'll say goodnight to Beverly in the hotel lobby before I adjourn for a good night's sleep. We perform at the Dick Clark Theater tomorrow at 7:20p.m.