A departure from parenthood

My husband and I took a break from parenthood last night-and I mean a BIG break. John is a fan of Tool and they were in Austin so we went to the concert. I'm not a fan, but am working toward Wife of the Year. This should make me a shoo-in.

If you don't know, Tool is a metal band. They are V E R Y L O U D. So armed with my ear plugs and with the kids safely ensconced with their grandmother, we headed out.

As the lights went down, immediately all around us, marijuana smoke wafted up. I mean, it was like we had just stepped into a forest fire. And then the band came on...if you have never heard Tool, take a listen to get a taste:


It was cool to go see, but I could feel some pain in my back this morning from standing up for that long. OK, fine, I admit it. I'm old. John and I both had multiple moments where we looked at each other and grinned, laughing at us hanging out with people all around us thrashing their heads back and forth and shouting "Maynard, you are a god. You rock!" and women (or really, just girls) walking around in mesh tops and halters, rips in the butt of their jeans and no underwear underneath. I think more than once we probably both thought "Could our children ever be like this...?" On a good note, it would probably be worse if I had been head banging like all those around us, since my neck would probably require traction today. The amazing thing is that the band is older than we are. The lead singer is 43!

So we came home, immediately loaded our smoke-infused clothes into the washing machine, and happily climbed into bed. Only to be awoken 2 hours later by Jack coughing. And then again an hour later by Alex crying. Everyone ended up in our bed, except for John who tried to claim a few winks in the guest bed.

Ahhh, back to parenthood.