Last night, I was confronted with my aging self directly from the mouths of babes. Michelle and I decided awhile ago we wanted to go to a concert. Michelle booked our hotel room and got us tickets to the event. You see, it was on a work night, so we had to work half the day, drive over to Orlando, get checked in to our hotel, make sure we knew where the venue was, get a nice dinner, then take our blankets and chairs to the venue to watch the great show. We are big fans of Aaron Lewis, and he was going to be performing at the Orlando Amphitheater during the Central Florida Fair. That is a field trip for us, so we came prepared.
I grew up with Staind, the rock band that Aaron fronted. This was pure rock n’ roll. They were formed in 1995 and kind of went their separate ways in 2011. Aaron decided he was going to pursue a career in country music, he wasn’t bad, his YouTube presence is great, so I continued to enjoy his music through the transition. Fast forward to last night and the concert Michelle and I were going to attend. It was going to be him, and his country band and they were touring in support of his newest country album “Sinner”. After a great dinner we eased our way to the concert and found great parking away from possible dings from others. You know, we are older and want to make sure our investments our safe from the wild youth of today. We took ten minutes to make sure we had our chairs and blankets secured so we could walk into the venue. As we strolled in the cool evening air we were overtaking by a group of six younger kids who were bouncing into the same que we were headed. Being inquisitive, I asked them if they knew Aaron Lewis as the country singer or as the lead singer of Staind? They responded, country singer. The next few minutes were old man gold.
The females in the group asked, “What is Staind?” “You mean he was in another group?” The boys said, “What, he was a rock singer?” I said yes, and then I had to stop and pee in the porta-potty located outside the ticket booth. Yes, I am old, and my bladder has about a pint of holding tank. Michelle waited outside and told me upon my exit that the kids continued trying to figure out what in the hell I had just blown their minds with. Fast forward to the concert and he made multiple mentions that the song he was going to sing was one that he had written 20 to 25 years ago. The first thought that went through my head was, “I wonder what these kids are thinking?” “Has this guy been trying to make it as a country artist this long?” I hope that they figured it out at some point, or at least Googled it at some point in the evening.
For years, I have been able to put off the inevitable. I am getting old. My daughter can almost drive without my attention, email is passé, Facebook is for old fogies like me, and kids today don’t even remember what rock n’ roll was or who sang it. It is okay. Those times produced some of the best music and originality that ever existed. The hair is thinner, I get mad at aggressive drivers, and I think having an early breakfast at a country diner sounds like a fantastic way to go. I love the progress technology has made. It is awesome to watch events I cannot go to on my phone, pay for events by showing my phone to the ticket taker, and using GPS versus a map makes getting unlost much easier. However, everyone says that it takes years to gain wisdom. That part I would not pass up. It is so true. As a youngster, I would have worked all day, grabbed some McDonald’s, and rushed to get to the show. I would have paid for the outrageous beer and food at the event and slammed myself up against a stage of pot smoking, alcohol fueled kids, and sung every song. I would have then headed back to little BP and gone to work this morning like nothing happened. Wait, part of that doesn’t sound so bad. Nah, the wisdom gained over the years, the preparation executed, and the knowledge to know better led to a great night with my beautiful wife and a 24-hour get away that was desired by both.
Youth is awesome. I cannot wait until those kids are my age and they head off to the virtual concert and some kid they don’t know has no clue that Justin Bieber was a YouTube sensation found by Usher. Oh, to be young again. It was a great night, followed by an incredibly relaxing morning. Thanks baby, for helping us have the wisdom to do it the best way an old married couple can do it. What’s next?
mine--at concert
Photo by Marie-Sophie Tékian on Unsplash
No comments:
Post a Comment