Things That Make Me Well Up: The Bobby Bones Show

I’ve wanted to start a series within my blog for a long time. Something original. Something that screams “Jonna.”

And one of the things that is so very “me” is my tendency toward crying. It isn’t crying as much as it is welling. Tears brim at my eyelids. I will them to stay in my tear ducts. It doesn’t usually work.

I don’t often cry big, huge crocodile tears, but I well up at varied list of things, including, but definitely not limited to: The Amazing Race, Phoebe’s wedding on Friends, that nurse commercial, this Buzzfeed article, and military homecoming videos.

Today’s welling, wasn’t actually a welling, but a full-on, have-to-close-my-office-door (#humblebrag) cry for …

The Bobby Bones Show.

I figured, if I’m going to cry like a B, I may as well be able to articulate why. So here goes nothing.

October 2008: R and I started seeing each other. We lived about 90 minutes from one another. Most Friday mornings to Tuesday mornings, I would spend that time with R. Then, I’d have to leave.  And the floodgates opened up. Which, in hindsight was kinda silly absolutely absurd. We would be reuniting again in literally 72 hours.

The point here isn’t my utter absurdity, but this:

On those drives back home, I would spend it with the Bobby Bones Show. And, after awhile, those drives weren’t tearful departures from someone I was starting to fall in love with, but drives full of laugh, Amy's horrible awesome jokes, and Name-That-Tune. So my tears started to subside.

June 2009: I moved in with R and commuted 50 miles to and from work. I started timing things so I’d get in the car just as the show started playing “What Year Was It?”

It made things easier. It made things better. It helped me get through these times in my life and other times where things were uncertain and scary and seemingly more than I could handle.

And now, more than four years later, they are still a part of my life.

I tried Glowing Green Smoothies because of Amy.

I ran a (half) marathon for the first time with one of my best friends because of Lunchbox.

I saved Bobby’s episode of “Live with Regis and Kelly” on my DVR for months.

The day before Maggie's wedding, we sat in on the show and met them all.

But, more than any of those things, I feel connected to these radio personalities. These radio personalities are my friends and I feel strangely, but undeniably, connected to them. My eyes welled up with happy tears when Amy called from Africa. My heart hurts for Bobby when he mentions his mom and his past. I can’t help but smile when Lunch wins a game, because I know what’s coming (“and they stay there, and they stay thereeee …”).

When I heard the news about the big move, I was speechless. I felt like my friends were moving away to do something amazing for themselves and their careers. I felt nervous for them because I know the change and the risk has to be nerve-wracking. I felt excited for them because it is an incredibly awesome opportunity that they 100% deserve. I am both anxious-excited and anxious-nervous to see how the show looks and feels from Nashville. I can already picture the country music beds and a Name-That-Tune game full of country music artists.

Friday morning, my eyes welled up hearing the last show from Austin because of all that. Bobby always says that there are a million other things that his listeners could do with their mornings.

But, this is the only thing I want to do with my morning. I want to listen to a bunch of best friends sit around and talk into microphones.

I am thankful for the realness, I am thankful for candor, and I am thankful for the laughs over the years.

Happy weekend, everyone!