Music and Musings

Fair warning - this post contains no patterns

I made several things tonight and attempted several more. I hated pretty much all of it, which explains why the attempts far outnumber the finished items. Part of it was my material, I think. I was using red. I hate red. I don't know what I was thinking when I bought it. Part of it was lack of direction. I simply didn't know what I wanted to make. I made an elf hat, but I hate it. I've made better ones. I made another Up On the Ridge hat, but it just didn't make me happy. I gave up and made a basic two row headband of dc. Then... I made THIS

 

You know by now I'm not really one to sing my own praises, but isn't this stinking adorable?? I know, it needs some fiddling. I will be doing some uncharacteristic tweaks before I release an actual pattern for it (which will unfortunately require buying MORE red yarn...) but it's a very good start, right? I was so excited to finally have made something worthwhile I was just giddy. :)

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The more pressing event on my mind is tomorrow, for tomorrow I will be heading to Oklahoma City to see the Keith Urban concert. I'm stupid excited. In honor of this, I would like to share with you a little story about a quite memorable Keith Urban show. I have many, but I'll limit myself to one...

Keith Urban

Wisconsin Country Thunder

2013

       My mother, her friend, and I went to Tulsa to see Keith Urban. We got as dolled up as we ever do, got in Tracy's (the friend) car and off we went. We have a habit of buying tickets the day-of (which is another story entirely, but do remind me as it's quite a lovely story) and had never had problems with it. Naturally, that all changed on this day.
       We went in and went straight to the box office. Mind, this was back when he was still playing convention centers. Mom tells the Box Office Lady we need three tickets. For the first time ever, BOL says, "Ma'am, I'm sorry but the show is sold out."
       What?
       That literally never happens to us.
       What?
       So, the three of us kind of look at each other. We've driven three hours away from home to catch this show. That is the only reason we're in Tulsa. We had no other plans. We had no back up plan. My mother is a persistent sort, which was good because Tracy and I both are the more passive sort. Mom went back at least six times and asked the BOL the same question. We were there so long that the merchandise guy strolled past us with his boxes and began to set up his display. Radio deejays were parking their vans. We'd skipped lunch because we'd planned to just get tickets and go.
       Eventually, we had to start talking about leaving. Mom and Tracy are both diabetic. They keep it under control, but we were going on at least two hours without food when we'd planned to eat an hour and a half ago.
       Suddenly...
          as the box office area began to fill with will-call picker uppers...
             as we hunched our shoulders and sent woeful glances toward the glass double doors...
                I mean, as honestly as possible, as we were about to head out the door...
       Box Office Lady motions to Mom. It was subtle. Mom scoots on over to see what was going on.
"I just had two tickets released. They're in this section in this row for these seats. They were just now released. Do you want them?"
       ((Let me remind you - we were a trio on this day.))
       Mom looks at the two of us and winces. We all have a small discussion, but I see other people heading our way. I know if we don't get these tickets, someone else will. I know we have three people and two tickets and that's not the ideal situation, but that can't be helped right now. We get the tickets and head to dinner.
       Dinner was a three-way match of "you two go." The arguments were insane. Each of us felt compelled to give up our spot. Tracy had driven us. Mom had insisted we stay to get the tickets at all. I'd paid for them. We all had good reasons to go. In the end, Tracy nominated herself for sainthood and basically demanded that Mom and I go to the show. We were appropriately guilty about it. We felt even worse when we dropped her off at the movies and took HER CAR to the show.

       Here's the thing. I didn't pay one single iota of attention to the Box Office Lady when she showed us our seats. I didn't care. Two of us were going to the show. The seats could have been junk and it wouldn't have mattered. I couldn't believe it when I actually looked at the stupid ticket.
We were in the front row.
We were in the middle of the front row.
We were front row center for a sold out show.
       That doesn't happen to people who initially spend two hours waiting in the lobby of an empty building. Oh, it was amazing. The lights, the songs, the music. Obviously, the singers. It was Pat Green and Keith Urban, which seems a weird combination, but it worked. We took way too many pictures, yelled way too much, and had grins implanted on our faces for a week. Sadly, I think those pictures have been eaten by technology, but they were awesome.

The moral of this story is to never give up. I'm convinced the tickets were on hold for someone who called and said they couldn't make it. We could've left right after hearing "I'm sorry, but it's sold out." We could've left any time in the ensuing hours. We could've debated another minute and lost out on the opportunity altogether. Instead, we were able to enjoy the show and have an incredible memory.

And Tracy? She insists to this day that she doesn't regret her decision. I owe her a tshirt or two for Christmas this year, I think...

Thanks for checking on me and strolling down the Memory Lane with me today! Wish me ticket luck!