1 Mother 2 Another

Our city offers a really great program
– free outdoor concerts every Monday during June - and most
years we find at least once band we’re interested in seeing.
This past Monday, we hit the city park to listen to a
Beatles’ tribute band.


And boy, did we have a good time.

This year was the first year I really sat
back and relaxed the whole time. The girls are finally old enough
to understand they’re not supposed to wander onto other
peoples’ blankets, or eat a snow cone that’s dropped on
the grass. They’ve both been raised on a decent diet of
Beatles music and were highly enthusiastic about going.


Maddie’s friend Elise tagged along, and as soon as the
concert began the two older girls headed down to the front of the
grass to dance. The spent probably eighty percent of their time
down there, dancing with an abandon that they will, alas, soon
trade for self-consciousness. I did see glimpses of the future,
though, as the two of them would pause regularly to hang on the
metal barrier fence right in front of the band and stare longingly
at Paul, George, John, and Ringo.


We were all the way in the back at the top of the hill, but I could
see the girls easily and the band was excellent, so we had a
fantastic time from where we were. Cora mostly hung out with us,
and I could see that she’s just starting to realize that
Maddie’s friends are MADDIE’S friends, not her own, and
I felt Cora’s longing for her own posse rolling off her a few
times.


For the most part, though, Cora curled up in a lap or danced next
to us, occasionally shouting out “Sing ‘Twist and
Shout’!” Or “Play ‘Eleanor
Rigby’!” or even just “Woo hoo!” at the end
of a song.


When the event was over, the sky was nearly full dark and it was
past bedtimes. Maddie came perilously close to a meltdown, but
she’s apparently grown up enough that it didn’t
materialize. We drifted with the crowd towards our car and went
home, hot and sleepy and content.


The girls are growing, and life is good.