My very thoughtful mother-in-law bought tickets to take Seth & herself to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, because she is such a cool grandma. But it turned out that she had to work on the night of the concert. She was going to have Auntie Emily take Seth instead, because she is the "Cool Aunt" who takes the kids to do cool stuff. But my thoughtful husband suggested to Mom & Emily that I should take Seth because I love the TSO. My thoughtful Mama-in-law & thoughtful sister-in-law agreed. Thus, it was decided that I should be the Honored One to take Seth to the concert. Little did I know that I would be treated like such a queen on this special night. As I was getting ready to go, I heard the doorbell ring. My thoughtful husband, who was thoughtfully sitting at the computer doing nothing.....(and I was doing my hair: important business), called from across the house, "I think it's for YOU, Heather!!!" Fortunately, I was more curious than irritated. I decided not to say anything snotty about Justin's lazy rear not answering the door, or about my hair not being able to fix itself, or about hoping that Justin didn't strain himself too badly as he called for me........or anything else which I would have felt guilty for later. When I opened the door, there stood my handsome oldest son, holding out a beautiful bouquet of flowers to me. So, I got all teary-eyed, kissed Seth (and Justin) & grabbed the camera. Now, I know I am supposed to think that Seth thought of that all by himself.......but I know he had a "little" encouragement from his daddy. Oddly, all night long, Seth was a perfect gentleman & kept offering me his arm, as we walked. He held all the doors open for me. I was stressing out in traffic, because I'm a big baby & hate driving downtown. I was afraid we'd be late, get lost, miss the concert & drive into a black hole. Seth kept patting my shoulder & calmly telling me that we'd be fine, that we'd get there on time & un-zapped into outer space for all eternity. He was so sweet & reassuring. He even told me I looked nice! These things don't come naturally to a teenager, as moms are about the most annoying people that they know. It was like Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Seth is a great kid. Don't get me wrong. But I know my husband put him up to this & the fact that he did made me feel so special.......to Seth, but especially to Justin. I get teary just thinking about it.
Anyway, enough gushy, mushy shtuff. We did get there on time. The concert was freaking awesome. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the camera to take shots of the musicians due to the cool light show. I was able to catch a little of this: and a little of THIS: I'm pretty sure the whole stage was actually on fire for a few seconds. ;) I can't even really describe the concert & do it any justice. It's unlike anything I've ever seen or heard before. It was classical-meets-heavy-metal..........along with other assorted styles. It was clean. It had a neat Christmas message. The musicians were all unbelievably talented. The keyboardist had the fastest fingers in the West. I could listen to her play for the rest of my life & never get tired of hearing her. The singers were like angels from heaven: some opera-singing-angels & some heavy-metal-ballad-singing-angels. Seth was especially enamored with the drummer & bass players. We both loved the other guitarists. The fiddler was the coolest chick ever, with her strutting around, head-banging & fiddling. There was ballet, head-banging & other super fun choreography. The whole concert was chills & thrills & ridiculously great music. That's all I have to say about that. :) What else is one to do when sitting in a parking garage, wait for traffic to move?
Yup! We had a good time. Thanks, Mom (& Emily), for the tickets! Thanks, Justin....for teaching Seth to be a good date & treat his mama special. Thanks, Seth, for hanging out with me. I'm so glad we share a love of music!!! 
