These Is Nikki's Words...

Kayleigh came home the other evening in a state of elation that I have never witnessed before. Nikki had taken Kayleigh and Sydney to see All Star Weekend. I must admit that I had murmured about the concert all day. Concerts can be a little shady and not to mention it was on a school night, too. Kayleigh was on cloud nine for several days afterward. Seeing this emotion in my daugher made me quite repentant that I had ever murmured about her going. Nikki told me that I would not have recognized my daughter, that she had turned into someone else that night. So, I told Nikki that she would have to be the one to write about this concert experience since I sadly was not there:

Third Time’s the Star Charm!  

Kayleigh definitely inherited my i-love-to-go-to-concerts gene.  And Kayleigh knew she had this gene even though she’d never been to a concert.  We’d been trying to go to a concert together for quite a while now, but nothing ever seemed to fan out (get it? pan out…fan out….).  First, it was the Hannah Montana concert, but we jumped on that bandwagon (no pun intended) a little too late to get tickets.  Then we tried for tix to see Justin Bieber, and, well, those tickets sold out before they even went on sale.

Then several weeks ago Kayleigh called me quite excitedly to tell me that All-Star Weekend was coming to the A-T-L.  Really? Could this be? “We have to go,” I told her. Too bad I’d never heard of them.  I couldn’t get their name right and kept calling them Best Weekend Ever.  Sydney, Kayleigh’s BFF, who would be coming with us, quickly reminded me that we were going to see All-Star Weekend, not Best Weekend Ever.   Close enough.

Finally, the day of the concert arrived, but not before black t-shirts bedazzled with neon puff paint and posters overflowing with bubble letters were made.  Kayleigh even made a card for the boys in the band (oh, did I forget to mention that this was boy band?) and what Kayleigh wrote inside was longer than any master’s thesis I’ve ever seen.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen two girlies more excited about anything.  We queued outside of Vinyl waiting for the doors to open.  Even though we were about 50 people deep in the queue, we somehow finagled our way to the second row.  Second row! I was right in the middle of hundreds of teenage girls jumping up and down and screaming and waving their hands in the air (come on, sing it with me now…like you just don’t care).  I then had an epiphany; I remembered I had some red Delta earplugs leftover from my last trip to Guatemala at the bottom of my purse.  I wasn’t going to be ashamed to wear them, and so the search to the bottom of that abyss began.  Too bad I didn’t find them until two days later.

Okay, fast forward through two opening acts, Classic Addict and Action Item, when the boyz of ASW took the stage.  Never ever have I heard such deafening screams nor had twenty teenage girls inside my personal bubble.  Oh, and the temperature in the room magically sky-rocketed 98 degrees (remember that boy band?).   

When the guys came out, Kayleigh and Sydney both looked my way and gave me the look.  The look that conveyed that this was the coolest thing they’d ever experienced.  Kayleigh and Sydney’s arms were up and before they knew it the lead singer was holding on to both of their hands and gazing into their eyes.  Seriously.  And this continued for another hour. But this was just the beginning, there was a meet and greet after the concert.  So we queued up again and waited in line.  But not before, Kayleigh and Sydney met and hugged all five guys of Action Item, bought their CD and had each of them sign it and the backs of their t-shirts.  Confession:  I may have let the lead guitarist tattoo his name in silver Sharpie on my right forearm.

Finally, we got to meet ASW.  The girls gave them their cards, starting jumping up and down hysterically, asked for hugs, asked them to sign their t-shirts, told them they loved them, asked for another hug, had them sign a piece of paper, and then asked for one final hug and told them I love you again.  When the girls would say, “I love you,” the guys would smoothly respond, “We love you more!”  The ASW boys were so gracious.  I was so impressed.  Nate (my personal favorite with the dreads) told Kayleigh, after reading her card that said, “I wub A-Dub!” “Oh, I love that!” The lead singer even thanked me bringing the girls.  Do I really look that old? How did he know I wasn’t their number one fan?

On the way home, Kayleigh and Sydney kept saying, “This was the best night of my life!”  

Mission accomplished. 

Thank you, Sister. I wish everyone could have a cool aunt like you!