So, first things first. The Avett Brothers. I can honestly say it's the first time I ever wept openly at a concert that wasn't in an elementary school cafeteria. As you know, those boys put on a good show. I was prepared for that. Right out of the gate I was a little bit worried that Seth wouldn't make it through the whole show with the jumping, dancing and singing at the top of his lungs. It certainly explains why he hasn't got a single ounce of body fat on him.
What I wasn't prepared for was the walloping gut punch their music gave me in person. Everyone has seen the old footage from Elvis or Beatles concerts with the fans sobbing and screaming and throwing their underwear and whatnot. I always sort of wondered how you could be that moved by rock 'n' roll. Now I think I kind of know. No worries, my undergarments stayed in their appropriate places. But it was like this convergence of the weeks leading up to the show, the music, the thumping and jumping, the extremely nice people around us in the crowd, leaving the monkeys for a night out of grown-up childishness and... WHAM!
I didn't realize how personal their music was to me. I listen to them a lot and they just sort of run in the background of the other stuff of life. But live, the songs just crystallize all the "other stuff" into these intense moments and I realized that these boys have been crooning me through the last few years. They've helped me clean my house, walk the monkeys to school, write, go for drives by myself, escape from my own world for a while. They've hung out with Daniel and me when the monkeys are in bed and we're unwinding and reconnecting. They've sung real loud and danced with me when I felt like screaming and ranting instead. I didn't even realize it until we went to the show. I'm not sure if I've ever enjoyed a show that much and I've been to some good ones.
The last few weeks have just been crashing around me in chaos. I didn't get to properly process and recover from your visit because it was back at it the very next day to get ready to go camping 6 hours away. Camping was really fun. All 5 little cousins playing together was completely worth it. It rained pretty much non-stop the whole time we were there and we were a bit ill-prepared for that, so we cut our visit a night short. The last night we were there, I had on all of the warm clothes I had brought and it felt like I was encased in sponges. Not pleasant, but part of the whole camping thing, I suppose. Especially in the Pacific Northwest. The kids had a blast and got to have a sleepover with one of their cousins in the tent and it was good to see my sister-in-law and watch her visibly unwind and have some fun. Sadly, an hour before we left, she got word that her mother (who had suddenly not been feeling well in the last few weeks) has cancer in her liver, pancreas and spine. Just dreadful. Obviously, the prognosis is not good and the doctor said that probably there wasn't much they can do except make her comfortable. The J-Bird cried on the way home and said "I just don't feel right leaving them there!" I hear that, baby girl. There's so much other nonsense going on that Kimberly can't even think straight. My heart just breaks for her right now.
How has your re-entry into work and "normal life" been? I'm suffering major latte withdrawal and I'm ready for you to come for another visit already! Hello to the Beetle for me and hugs all around!
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