Rites of Passage: The Concert

I have always like music. Whatever was playing near me was okay. On Saturday nights I actually liked Lawrence Welk. Of course, Saturday nights could be a little crazy getting ready for Sunday and responsibilities at church and the champagne music was pretty as it floated out of the television. There were certain pop groups that I liked (Olivia Newton John, ABBA, Chicago, the Carpenters, Billy Joel), and I gladly sang with them, but wasn't as devoted as some of my friends were. A couple of our cars had only AM radio and in our part of Kentucky that meant only country music -- traditional country music, so I learned to like that eventually. Contemporary Christian music was just really getting started, but it took a long time to reach our part of the world. Maybe I was just geeky or more ADHD than I knew, but buying albums wasn't my thing.

Then when I was in high school, an arena was built about an hour from our home and that was the beginning of concerts as I knew them. And what that means is that I didn't know anything because I never went to a concert!

Eventually I made my way to concerts in other cities and countries as I worked my way through my 20's, but I never made the transition to concert-lover. I went because my friends wanted to go. See how strongly I staked out my independence ?!

Now I am the mom of a teen-ager who has begun to watch her friends as they attend concert after concert. First, I don't know how they get tickets (think Miley Cyrus ticket craze.) Secondly, I don't know how they pay for those tickets.

Oh! I am still so geeky, but now I'm a middle-aged, mom-geek.

Something very neat happened to my girl last night. (Thank goodness she has cooler people in her life like her dad!) Her friend's very generous mother gave my girl a ticket to the Jonas Brothers concert. Originally, I wasn't too psyched for her. She didn't even like the Jonas Brothers, but it was a much bigger deal than I originally thought.

She had a fantastic time and here is what she learned last night:

• That mob mentality is an interesting thing.
• That some OTHER middle-aged moms have no business getting SO excited about a teen band.
• That it is fun to scream throughout a concert so that you lose your voice.
• That it is cheaper to buy the concert t-shirt online (with shipping) than it is to buy it at the concert.
• That mosquitoes love concert goers.
• That there were lots of cool girls from school there (that one just kills me.)
• That her new favorite group is ... The Jonas Brothers.
• That she is so glad she didn't have to pay for the ticket.

So, thank-you, generous Mrs. F., for taking my daughter through this rite of passage. I'm glad she got there a little sooner than I did and I'm equally as glad that she said she didn't know if she would want to go to another concert any time soon. Sometimes just having been there, done that is enough.