Mumford & Sons Timeline

{No FAQ today because Oh My Goodness the craziness that was yesterday. When you have four students at a school that cancels classes minutes before the first bell, it rocks everyone’s world. Elisabeth cried real tears she couldn’t go to school. Catie cried tears of joy she didn’t have to go school. Sam and Nate were generally perplexed about why not having water meant no classes. It’s worth noting these two are also the ones who love to pee “farmer style” out in the grass. So, yeah. Figures that no water for 150 people wouldn’t be that big of a deal to them.}

April 2013: Amy‘s brother from California texts me to see if we want to see Mumford & Sons in June. He buys and sells concert tickets, so he had the inside line on cheap, amazing seats.
My response, of course, was HECK YEAH.
Because this was an insider’s deal, it was a bit of a rigamarole to purchase and get the tickets, but who cares? We were going to see M&S! Our seats were not, like usual, grass seats 60 miles from the stage. Thanks to the insider deal, we had actual seats…for the same price other schmucks paid to fight for a spot on the lawn. (We are usually always the lawn schmucks so we were beyond thrilled to not be out there with our blankets and binoculars.)

May 2013: Buy M&S’s albums. I’ve wasted hours reading status updates, so I knew I would like M&S. Some of my favorite people frequently posted “Listening to Mumford & Sons!” So, even though I’m not hip enough to know any music that’s come out in the past decade, I did know people who knew new music. (Say that five times fast.). They liked M&S, and I hoped I would too.

May 2013: Listen to M&S every chance I get. Read articles about them. Ask people about them. Follow them on FB. So afraid I am that I will go to the concert and be the That Girl Who Doesn’t Sing Along, that I turn myself into an instant M&S fanatic.
The word you’re looking for here is nerd.

June 2013: Concert Day! Hooray! We are so ready for M&S.
Except not.
We are not ready at all. Even though I’m transformed into a deep M&S fan, this week is one of the craziest of our lives. It’s the twins’ birthday week, and we somehow agreed to TWO parties. Also, Nina and Patience are staying with us. And we have the stomach bug. (Go ahead. Click on that post. It was crazy.). Also. we had no real babysitter for the concert that night because our friends’ schedules were also so crazy.
When we got the call that Ted from M&S was in the hospital and they would not be traveling to Houston, M and I breathed a sigh of relief.
And then we puked. Because did I mention the stomach flu?

July 2013: M&S rescheduled their show for September! A week after my birthday! Ha! Take that, insanely busy schedule. You might rob us of most fun, with your daily demands of kids’ activities and homework, but you are NOT going to mess with this plan. We have scheduled a date THREE MONTHS in advance. Ain’t nobody, not even a crazy schedule, can take that away from us.
Right?
Right?!
Helllloooooooo? Right?
Oh. Maybe Not.

August 2013: Ask my friend, Barb, to stay the night so M and I can attend the after-bedtime concert that’s an hour away. An hour with no traffic (more on that later). She’s willing. We are SET! We are doing this!

September 16 (Day before the concert): After a big weekend of me out of town and M running the kids to activities, we are both exhausted. I was off speaking at a retreat and so ready to just be done with anything demanding. I just want to relax. Just in my pjs all day and in bed by 8.
Not happening. We were going out tomorrow night.
Leaving our kids during the intense hours of dinner, homework, baths, and bed means planning 24 hours in advance. The day before the concert I cleaned and organized their rooms so our surrogate could help them find their pjs and special blankets and pencils and sight words and spelling lists.
I cooked dinner and baked treats for their lunch boxes the next day. I talked to each kid about stepping up their responsibility a bit.
Actual snippet from my conversation with one kid: “If you want a drink of water when we’re not here, just get it. You don’t have to sit in bed and scream for it.”
Hergenrader Kid: “Really?! Are you sure?”

September 17: Concert day! We’re a little more ready than we were in June. But still. Is there ever a good day to take the night off for a date with your husband?
 Stop. Don’t answer. Asking the question probably points a deeper busy-ness issue that I’m not willing to explore.
Let me just say this: when Barb, one of my favorite people showed up, I was more than happy plop down to catch up with her. Still in my workout clothes from earlier that day. Not moving from the couch to actually put on concert-worthy clothes.
M was also thrilled to take a few minutes to just breathe. The time we should have left came and passed. Dragging ourselves out to a concert seemed hard. We considered just giving up and staying home.

5:00 PM: We finally left for The Woodlands to find some dinner and jam out to M&S in our awesome seats.  We check traffic. It’s not pretty. How can the map be RED for 60 miles? Really? It’s a parking lot all the way to the concert?
Yes. Really.

6:00 PM: My blood sugar is dropping, and we are still an hour from the concert. M is debating which of the gas stations might provide the most nutritious dinner.
We hear from Jen and Kenny, our concert dates. They’re further away than we are, and we’re all starting to realize our plans for dinner before the show are not happening.

7:00 PM: Everyone is snappy. Other drivers are not letting us into the lanes that will take us to food. I’m lamenting we ever decided to drive this far on a week night. M is annoyed we live in a city with THIS MUCH TRAFFIC at 7 PM.

7:15 PM: Since the concert has technically started, we give up on getting there on time. We stop at  Katz’s deli for a huge Reuben sandwich.
In tandem, we shove a year’s worth of corned beef, saurkraut, and pastrami into our mouths while looking for parking and running to the concert. We have to fight through the crowds of tens of thousands of fans for the sold-out show.
I’m hot, tired, and nauseous from the Reuben. Who in the HECK are all these people? How are they all able to be here on a random Tuesday night for a rescheduled concert? What kind of country do we live in that everyone has so much excess money and time to do things like this?
I’m sorry. It was the fatigue talking. I want to be in bed. A crowded amphitheater was the very last place I wanted to be.

7:30 PM: Waiting for Jen and Kenny outside the concert, I start to replay how much effort has gone into us all being here. Their sitter, our sitter, seven kids at home missing their folks, the traffic, the stress, the months of trying to learn about M&S.
I could listen to their music in the comfort of my own home.
We all could.
WHY GO THROUGH ALL THIS?!
I vow to use my time more wisely.
This is ridiculous.

8:00 PM: Finally in our seats. Mumford & Sons takes over the stage in a beautiful performance of lights, instruments, and the melodies I’d been listening to for five months.
The band is soulful, energetic, and such good singers. Their lyrics are poetry. They dance, sweat, and play the banjo and drums and guitars like it’s their last show on Earth.

10:00 PM: It’s a fantastic show. Mumford & Son’s performance has entranced all 20,000 fans. The 13-year-old dancing to my right and 39-year-old best friend singing to my left are equally enthralled with the performance on stage.
Oh, yeah, I realize. This is why.
This. This is art.
Experiences like this are never, ever convenient. Never logical.
I close my eyes. I sway with all the other fans as we listen to M&S’s deep baritones mingle with the high-pitched banjo to create that wonderous harmony unique to a live performance.
Listening to music on my iPhone is fine.
Going to a concert–with all the crap it takes to get there–is a soul-feeding experience I don’t want to miss.

1 AM: Finally asleep. Satisfied in a soul-deep way that only comes from experiencing something truly beautiful.