Road Trip

Took a little break from the projects, runny noses and life in general this week and took a mini road trip with my 14 year old son. He and I are music lovers, we're both HUGE Foo Fighters fans and we had the opportunity to see them in concert in Minneapolis this week. It's been a few years since I hit a big, loud, scream your head off rock concert; it's much like riding a bike, you never forget how to do it. I will admit right here and now that I have a major crush on Dave Grohl, there, I said it...someday he'll come knocking on my door and pledge his undying love for me, I know he will. It's okay, I'll wait.
This was my son's first BIG concert and he had a blast, even in the company of his mother. He has, however, decided that the next concert he goes to, he wants main floor general admission tickets. Seeing the body surfing and the people all squished up near the stage held enormous appeal to him. That's going to have to be a trip without me, though. I haven't been in a mosh-type pit since I started having babies. That's just bit too much sweaty up close and personal with strangers for this old broad. I do love watching the security guards at these events, they know they're really there to keep people off the stage and to catch (in their arms, I mean) the body surfers that end up getting dumped over the barricade. They were a good humored and patient bunch, sending the surfers off to the back of the general admission area, knowing that they'd see that same person again in about fifteen minutes, about as long as it seemed to take some of the more dedicated types to work their way back up to the front. I never did the body surf/stage diving thing, that takes more trust in total strangers than I'm able to muster, or ever was. It was nice to see that the crowd was a pretty even mix between the late teen and twentians and those of us with the stray gray hair and a wrinkle or two. I've got to say, I can't remember the last time I 'wooooooo'-ed that much in public. There's something about being in a crowd of people all singing the same song (and I'm not dissing the national anthem or anything, but it's really not the same) at the top of their lungs and not caring a bit who might overhear them. We drove 300 miles in horrible Minnesota winter weather and I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
It's pretty rare these days that I get totally uninterrupted time with either of my kids, so the treat of the whole event was doubled for me. For the first time in a long time, it was just me and my son by ourselves for more than a trip to the store or a ride to an appointment. We got a chance to really catch up, to talk about things other than homework, practice schedules or jobs around the house. The usual "How was your day?" conversations are great, but we got to cover all kinds of stuff in the five hour ride and the same ride home. We didn't get into anything heavy, no birds and the bees talk or anything, but music, books, movies, politics and darn near anything else out there. It's nice to be able to talk about that kind of stuff with your kid, kind of gives you a different perspective. I know my kids consider thenselves liberals just like me, but his reasons and logic behind his opinions are coming from a very different place that rather fascinated me.
We're going to have to this again, really soon. Dave doesn't love me yet....but he will.