Favorite Concert

I have been to exactly four concerts in my lifetime.  The first was the Metallica/ Guns 'N Roses concert when I was 17 years old.  When I was 21, I went to see Toby Keith.  At 24, I saw John Michael Montgomery, and when I was 26, I saw Colin Raye.  Each of these concerts have great memories attached, and I can remember each clearly.  My favorite, by far, was the Colin Raye concert.

I have loved Colin Raye since I was in high school.  Most people didn't know who he was back then, and you may know him best for his song "Love, Me."  EVERYONE who knew me also knew that a Colin Raye concert was on my bucket list.

In late January, 2001, Daniel saw a TV commercial advertising a February 14th concert.  I was so disappointed when I heard this.  Our baby would only be six weeks old!  That is way too young to leave a baby with a sitter for hours at a time.  My husband, who has always done as much as he could to make me happy, purchased tickets without me knowing.  He also scheduled for Andrea, and our then-foster son Alex, to stay overnight with his parents.  I had no other choice but to attend a Valentine's Day Colin Raye concert.

Andrea did great with her Nana and Papa.  She survived the horror of being left without her parents for an entire 12 hours.  And I even relaxed enough to have a GREAT time at the concert.

There were only 1000 tickets sold to the concert, and it was held at a small venue in Scottsdale.  Instead of sitting in rows of seats, we were actually in a barn, complete with bales of hay.  There were picnic tables set up, and an area for standing right in front of the stage.  No joke, we got close enough to actually see the red tab on Colin Raye's Levi jeans!  It was SO much fun.  The people attending the concert were awesome, too.  We all took turns getting up close to the stage for a song or two, then letting others have the same opportunity.

All in all, I think the Colin Raye concert is not only my favorite concert I've attended, but my favorite experience in general.  I would have fought Daniel on buying the tickets.  And, oh, how we have been judged for leaving our infant with a sitter!  I'm glad he arranged this date, though.  Even now we don't go too many places where we haven't taken the children.  Every parent deserves to have time to realize their own dreams.