Abbie's 1st Concert

I had hoped to surprise Abbie for her birthday by taking her to a Taylor Swift concert while Taylor was in Salt Lake.  However when I tried to buy tickets, I just about had a stroke when I saw a ticket cost hundreds (Yes, HUNDREDS!!) plus all of the other costs associated with a trip to Salt Lake.  I know Abbie likes Taylor, but I didn't think she liked her enough to make it a $1000 trip.  (Part of the problem is I am not a Taylor fan, so it's harder to rationalize the cost for someone whose music sounds all the same to me).

Miranda Lambert decided to come to Great Falls on her own, without the Pistol Annies as previously planned, and so I bought Abbie and I tickets.  I understand Miranda is certainly not Taylor in Abbie's mind, but I thought female country singer for another female country singer....good trade!  I did think about all of the things associated with a concert, but thought everything would be fine.  

First of all it was summer, so the fact that the concert didn't start until 8 pm was fine...she could sleep in tomorrow.  Abbie made the comment about the late starting time of the concert.  I had to reassure her that this was okay for one night.  (She's a rule follower and I was breaking the rules).

I thought not many drinkers would come to a Miranda Lambert concert, so we wouldn't have beer spilled on us or me having to explain inappropriate things. Nope they still come, no matter the concert.  They also sit in the "old person" section with backs on the bleachers, which I thought for sure was safe when I bought the tickets.  In fact, they even sit right in our row and come in and go out dozens of time, each time bringing back another drink or two.  Sigh. I tried to explain to an inquisitive 8 year old why people drink alcohol, and lots of it, all at one time.  After fumbling around on the topic for awhile I just ended with the answer, "I don't know why people do it Abbie.  People make silly choices sometimes."  (That was great parenting.  The silver lining...we aren't drinkers, so she wasn't comparing those people to Jeremy or I and this was very foreign to her...that's good!)

Lastly, I liked a few of Miranda's songs but I wouldn't call me a fan so I went and bought 2 CDs.  I listened to the songs.  The content wasn't always super great, but not "R" rated by any means and just a little that was "PG-13".    I felt that this was going to be okay for an 8 year old.  The concert starts and one of the first songs she improvised the lyrics, adding a curse word.  Awesome! I hoped the rule follower had missed that one so I didn't say a word. We continued to sit through the rest of the concert.  I wasn't really sure if Abbie liked it or not so I kept saying, "Do you want to go home?"  Nope, she wanted to stay.  We left during her encore and I still wasn't sure what Abbie really thought.  We got home and Jeremy says, "What did you think of the concert?"  Abbie replied, "Well, she swore a lot."  Jeremy looks at me.  I now felt I had to justify that "a lot" meant twice. Next, she tells him lots of people were drinking alcohol and making silly choices.  Yep, that was it!  That was her report of the concert.  Nothing about the music itself, or seeing someone famous, or spending time with me.  My precious rule follower...

Waiting for the concert to start