September 10, 2018

So the Jason Aldean/Luke Combs concert actually happened the other night. It was postponed last month because it seems an outdoor concert during thunderstorms is a bad idea. I think it’s safe to say that Lauren enjoyed her delayed 14th birthday gift. Her best friend Zoey joined us. Zoey’s mom made her best attempt at the concert last month, but had some other commitments that kept her from making the rescheduled show. Our old family friend Paige came instead.

Saturday was a loonnngg day. Emily cheered at her first football game after lunch, and we were hot and sweaty from that. Zoey, Lauren, and I left the game and headed to Raleigh to meet Paige for a quick dinner before the concert. We didn’t climb into our beds until close to 2 Sunday morning, but the exhaustion was worth it.

Last month I complained about all the trouble and time I spent getting to Raleigh, and driving through a monsoon, and eating a sub-par dinner just to have the concert postponed while we stood outside the gates waiting to get in. And had I even shaved my legs and didn’t get a concert T-shirt. I didn’t have the best attitude going into last Saturday since the forecast showed possible thunderstorms again. But I can put up with a lot for Lauren.

Lauren and the Middle Schoolers play a lot of country in the Chariot driving to school or around town, and that’s really the only reason I know any current country songs. Since it was a country concert, Zoey had to borrow a friend’s cowboy boots. She wore her Crocs on the drive to Raleigh and didn’t even try on the boots before leaving town, so in Raleigh we had to soften the leather with a hairdryer at Paige’s apartment just to squeeze her feet into them. And that was the night Zoey learned that fashion hurts sometimes as she limped the mile back to the car after the concert.

Lauren prefers Luke, but Zoey says Jason is hot. Actually Saturday night, we were all hot. The storms missed us, but it was one of those sweltering, sticky evenings. I think Luke should write a song about the way sweat and beer and marijuana and vomit smell in the breeze-less Carolina moonlight.

While waiting for Jason to set up, we walked around. Paige took the girls back to our seats so I could get to the restroom. Jason started playing while I was gone, and the lawn was so packed with people, I almost couldn’t find my way back to our seats. I was thankful Paul paid for actual seats after wandering through the maze on the lawn. I’m sorry if it was you I stepped on in the dark, but it was either step on you or step into whatever you were throwing up, and your calf seemed like a better, less slimy choice. Again, I’m sorry. And Luke, there’s some inspiration for that song I’d like you to write.

This was Lauren’s first concert. I think Zoey went to see the Wiggles when she was little, so this was her first big girl concert. Days later, Lauren is still going on about seeing Luke Combs. She wore her concert T-shirt to school today. Side note…she was dress coded because her shirt only covered the top two thirds of her butt. But thankfully Lauren managed to not loose her focus, and she somehow actually learned something in class despite seeing boys walk around with their shirts tucked in showing the entire backside of their Levi’s.

And speaking of boys, I think all 4 of us girls had a good time watching the Channing Tatum wannabe dancing right in front of Paige. I texted Paul during the concert to tell him about this guy. Watching him dance all up on his girlfriend, I felt kinda guilty for not tucking a single into the waistband of his underwear. Maybe I should have dress coded him. Focus Sandie! Learn something! Actually I did learn something. I learned he was wearing American Eagle underwear.

Paul suggested to me that I tell the girls we would need to leave before the end so we could get out of the venue more easily. I told him I was trying to be the cool mom, and I didn’t want to ruin Lauren’s birthday present by being practical. So we stayed until the very end. But while fighting the crowds to leave, and again seeing a woman on all fours throwing up (Luke, second verse, the same as the first), Lauren said “Dad told me we should try to leave before the end of the concert.” Maybe my girl has a practical side.

But anyway, the girls had a blast being 14 and beautiful and crazy, just like Luke’s song. This is the first of so many concerts Lauren and Zoey will go to. But they will remember this one as their first big girl concert. I got to see the sparkles in their eyes as they danced and screamed and trembled and jumped and waved and sang at the tops of their lungs.

“Beautiful, crazy, she can’t help but amaze me

The way that she dances, ain’t afraid to take chances,

And wears her heart on her sleeve,

Yeah she’s crazy, but her crazy’s beautiful to me!” By Luke Combs