Good Evening TXK
There are few milestones in life that hit harder in high school, emotionally and, in my case, literally (you’ll understand why soon) than getting your first car. You clutch your learner’s permit like a golden ticket, praying Driver’s Ed taught you enough not to take out the neighbor’s mailbox. (For the record, I did not. I almost did. But I didn’t. I just took out bumpers. Plural.)
My first car was a blue Nissan Rogue named Blue Ivy. I was 17 and maybe a bit dramatic, but Blue Ivy was so much more than just a car to me. She meant freedom. Power. She was the first place I ever screamed “Roman’s Revenge” by Nicki Minaj and Eminem at full volume, with the windows down. I felt like no one in the world had ever felt anything deeper than me. She was the first thing I ever truly paid for on my own. My mom made it clear early on that if I wanted something, I had to work for it. The car payment was on me. The insurance was on me. And I love that she insisted things needed to be that way, because not only did that payment teach me a lot, but that car taught me even more… including the fact that fries in the floorboard are not worth a rear-end collision at a red light. Parker (my brother) yelling “BAILEY!” as I slammed on the brakes will live rent-free in my mind for eternity. Sorry again to the car in front of me, my fries really were not worth it.
Then came Black Beauty, another Nissan Rogue. Sleek, mysterious, and she gave main character energy… until she too met her fate behind someone else’s bumper while my friend Hannah and I were vibing a little too hard to “I Hope” by Gabby Barrett. Amid debris and deployed airbags, I realized I really should start a GoFundMe for every car I’ve rear-ended: “Learning the Hard Way: The Bailey Gravitt Story.”
And now, there is my sweet baby girl, Kandi. She’s been with me since 2019. Apple red, loyal, ride-or-die, the only girl who’s stuck with me this long. Kandi’s been through it. She has taken me to job interviews, church on Sunday mornings, and Whataburger at midnight. She’s seen me cry so hard I had to pull over, and she’s seen me laugh until my stomach hurt. She has seen every version of me, and somehow, she still cranks up every morning with that same purr. That’s my girl.
The truth is, our first car isn’t just transportation. It is transition. It’s the moment you stop being a passenger in your own life. It is freedom, yes, but also fear—sooo much fear! Because now you can go wherever you want… which means you have to decide where that is. And that’s scary.
I used to hate change. I would grip the familiar like a steering wheel on black ice, pretending if I just held on tight enough, I wouldn’t crash. But life never really works like that. Change comes whether or not we want it. Sometimes softly, sometimes with a crunch of metal and a call to your insurance agent. Maybe Blue Ivy saw the first cracks in who I was trying to be. Maybe Black Beauty watched me step into my own. And maybe Kandi is the one riding with me now, as I finally live out loud, fully and freely as God intended me to be.
I hope you remember your first car. I hope you feel that flutter in your stomach again. The mix of nerves and thrill. I hope you remember the songs you screamed, the people you loved, the late nights, the wrong turns, and the growing pains. Because if there is one thing I have learned, it’s that a dead end is never really a dead end. You can always turn around. The road may not always be smooth, but there is always a next destination.
And by the grace of Jesus (because it definitely ain’t my driving skills)… I have always had a car to get me there!
LIVE MUSIC
August 1
Jackson James Band Live
Fat Jacks Oyster and Sports Bar
8 pm
August 2
Twenty One 48
Redbone Magic Brewing Company
7:30 pm
August 8 & 9
Calvin Richardson
Texarkana Arkansas Convention Center
7 pm
August 9
Patrick Lamb
Hope Watermelon Festival
7 pm
August 9
Chase the Night
Whiskey River Country
10 pm
August 15, 22, & 29
Graham Wincher Band
Redbone Magic Brewing Company
7:30 pm
August 16
David Lewis
Whiskey River Country
11 pm
August 29
Traveler & Bluebird-Chris Stapleton & Miranda Lambert Tribute
Fat Jacks Oyster and Sports Bar
7 pm
LOCAL EVENTS
August 2
Pol Care Inc. Backpack Giveaway
Texarkana College
10 am-1 pm
August 5 & 7
Flower Power Planters
TRAHC’s ArtSpace
6-8 pm
August 5
Art Journaling
TRAHC’s ArtSpace
6-8 pm
August 5 & 19
Free Barre Classes
Southwest Center
9 am
August 6
Music & Moves
TRAHC’s ArtSpace
10-10:30 am
August 7
Watercolor Pet Workshop
TRAHC’s ArtSpace
6-8 pm
August 7
Temple Memorial Drawdown & Casino Night
Elks Lodge
6 pm
August 7-9
Hope Watermelon Festival
Hope Fair Park
11 am
August 11, 13, & 15
Poetry Bootcamp
TRAHC’s ArtSpace
5:30-7 pm
August 14 & 28
Free Pound Classes
Southwest Center
9 am
August 17
A Night of Amazement with Ben Jackson
First Baptist Church
6 pm
August 23
Yellow Petal Bike Ride
Spring Lake Park
6:30 pm
August 30
Boggy Creek Monster Mingle
502 North Monster Expressway, Fouke
10 am-6 pm
