Surprise!

Way back in February I got an email from a friend here about a top secret mission that I might like to participate in. A group of moms were planning to take their daughters to see Taylor Swift in concert on March 13th - would I like to come and bring Madison and Emily along? Well, it sounded like tons of fun, not to mention the fact that Maddy and Emily both really, really like Taylor Swift's music. So I got online and found the last three seats in the section where the other moms had bought tickets and then I booked one of the last rooms at the hotel. A few days later the concert tickets arrived in the mail and then all I had to do was wait for March to tell the girls about our big surprise.

On the day of the concert we met our friends at church so we could drive together. All the girls knew they were going somewhere, but thought it was a mother-daughter relationship building retreat. It was difficult for me to keep our plans a secret for so long because I knew they would be excited and I wanted to tell them as soon as the tickets came, not three weeks later! Anyway, we handed them their tickets in the car so they could see more about what we would be doing - I have to say that their response was sort of subdued, they were excited, but there was no screaming or jumping up and down. But we were in a car and all buckled in, so it would be tricky to jump around in there.

The concert was tons of fun, our seats were pretty good, it sounded like she was actually singing and not lip synching, there was some cool lighting and other special effects, but the show was about the music more than anything. About halfway through the concert Taylor got off the main stage, walked around the edge of the crowd and got up on a smaller stage right next to where we were sitting. The girls all ran down so they could be closer to her on the small stage and security let them through the barrier out onto the floor of the arena. For the rest of the concert they were able to be much closer than if they had stayed in their seats. Emily used her cuteness and shortness - "oh you're so little and cute, go ahead and get in front of me" is what I imagine everyone thinking or saying - to work her way through the crowd and by the end of the show was all the way up next to the stage.

My favorite part of the experience was seeing how excited my girls were about the whole thing. They loved staying in the same hotel as all their friends, they screamed and clapped and sang along through the whole concert, they even loved riding the bus to and from the arena. I don't often (ever) get to give such a big, exciting gift to my kids and it was really special for me to be able to something like that for them. After seeing how much fun this was for me and for the girls, I think I'll be looking for more opportunities in the future to do special things like this.