October Brings… A One Direction Concert!
Missy Tippens
I can't believe October is here! Where did September go? For that matter, where did August, July and June go?
My "baby" is 18 now. That's another "hard to believe." She had her birthday in September. And Wednesday night, I did what was probably my last concert chaperone duty. I drove my daughter and two friends to a MARTA station. We took the subway into Atlanta. Had dinner at the CNN Center. Then I dropped them at the Georgia Dome for the One Direction concert. No, I did not splurge on a 1D ticket for myself. And I did not want to further damage my already-not-so-great hearing (I once blew out a set of speakers in my car when I was a teen!)
So, I parked myself over at the Georgia World Congress Center with other waiting parents. I had brought a printed manuscript to read through. Well, about the time I started to read, a mother at the next table and I spoke. I can't even remember what was said. But four hours later, we were still talking!
We had such a good time. So many things in common with our daughters as well as our older children. As we talked, our girls sent some photos. Actually, her daughter was better about communicating than mine was! Although, I did get a text or two. :) Near the end, we moved outside where we could hear the music (and the LOUD, WILD screaming fans) rocking the Dome.
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| A great light show! |
It was a gorgeous evening in Georgia. And the girls had a fantastic time.
My daughter agreed to share some photos with me so I could share with you.
One of the stage sets:
And two of the crowd favorites with the girls (on the big screen during the show)…
Niall Horan
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And Harry Styles...
One last shot of the guys on stage at the end of the runway …
Despite the crush while riding MARTA and arriving home at 1:40 a.m. on a school night--during midterms, we had a wonderful time. I wouldn't trade these opportunities for anything! Those of you with younger kids, time really flies by. Enjoy every moment.
www.missytippens.com
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I've envied you the trips you've taken with her. The way things are here, I had to be in the coliseum! Time really does fly too quickly.
ReplyDeleteJulie, you're a better person than I am if you went inside the concerts! :)
DeleteI had to crack up, though. Girl child said she tweeted during the concert: To the mom at this concert with the tube top and Hollister skinny jeans, NO.
I love that you got to sit away from the crazies and have some down time. I've learned to take my laptop to all kinds of venues and at a dance competition last year a lovely maintenance man with five kids let me into the teacher's lunchroom to work.... instead of on the floor! AWESOME. I've found that being present in people's lives doesn't always mean a work trade-off and ten hour dance competitions are WONDERFUL.... But I'm okay with ducking out between bouts to work! I'm laughing at the talking part, because you'd expect that to be me.... But I'm more an observer now at these things and then I put the dance moms..... the crazy ones and the sweet ones.... the party moms..... the crying dads..... the bossy instructors.... into books! It's so funny because I really get a kick out of watching the passing parade. But there are times when I'll just sit and talk, too, and I always feel that those times are valuable, Missy because that's the human element I want in my stories. The real deal of people's hearts and souls. I've never considered that a waste of time and it's taught me so much about people. A lesson you can never learn on the Internet because it's so easy to be plastic here. Glad you had fun!!!
ReplyDeleteRuthy, it truly is fun to be a people watcher. And we can put it to good use in our world!
DeleteBTW, 10 hour competitions?! Wow. I can't imagine that. Sounds like you could make a TV show like Toddlers and Tiaras. :)
DeleteFrom 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM And the girls are in maybe six numbers so that's a lot of waiting time in between. Hello, Laptop!!!
DeleteYou're a brave woman, Missy. My youngest has been bugging me to take him to a concert. Luckily, he's into country music and we have Billy Bob's which is a much smaller venue, but still gets big names. And it doesn't hurt that I have a friend who works there. For now, I've been able to hold him off, but my time is coming. Hopefully he'll pick someone I like, too. :)
ReplyDeleteMindy, you've never had to take a kid to a concert??? Ever? For real?
DeleteNot a big arena one. THANK GOD!!! Just Billy Bob's (the world's largest honky tonk) Call me lucky. :)
DeleteMissy, kids turning 18 is a big deal! That was the only birthday that bothered me with my boys who are 25 & our youngest 20 this month. But you babies turning 18 is just...disconcerting. Right?
ReplyDeleteNo concerts with my kiddos either. : )
I took my daughter to a Rebecca St. James concert once. She didn't really like it - so at twelve years old it was her first and (almost) last concert.
ReplyDeleteBecause, after all, she's a Beethoven groupie, and she likes to listen to the concerts from the Bass section :)
But she did play with Kansas (the rock band) in one of the concerts on their "There's No Place Like Home" tour in 2009. She's even on the DVD of the concert (her claim to fame).
But I didn't need to chaperone :)
And now those days of needing to chaperone are long behind us - although sometimes I wish I could be a fly on the wall when my (adult) kids go somewhere! LOL
Ah, Harry. Who doesn't love Harry. Despite that Taylor Swift incident.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing, Missy. So glad you had these great times together. My youngest is in his senior year of college. Trust me, the college years fly by too.
ReplyDelete