Concert 11- Minneapolis, Minnesota

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July 8, 2009

Concert 11- Minneapolis, Minnesota

A comedy of errors. Today started out the opposite of yesterday, as far as being in the stream of life and yet, I am focused on the comedy and irony of so many of the details. I went from stress to adrenalin flow to laughing. Sounds like a crazy woman, eh?

We were driving from Omaha, Nebraska to Minneapolis, Minnesota. We left an hour later than we had planned. There was one area of construction after another so it took us two hours longer than the google map estimate. We found the Quality Inn hotel in Bloomington and in record speed, we changed our clothes and freshened up.

Heading into Minneapolis, I missed the exit. Trying to weave my way back to the correct location, we found a huge crowd and a big stadium-type place.

Two clues should have told me that this was the wrong venue. One was the signs pointing to something called the Metronome. The venue was at the Target Center. And many people were wearing Minnesota Twins shirts. I laugh again, as I think about this. I can remember thinking that this must be something people do in Minneapolis. They wear baseball shirts where ever they go. I am still chuckling about this!

A word of wisdom, if you go to a concert and the crowd is wearing shirts with a baseball team and you don't see anyone wearing a band T-shirt, you are at a baseball game NOT a concert!!

By the time we discovered this, I had paid $20 for parking and Hannah had tried to get into the stadium with her Jonas Brothers ticket. I was already walking towards the stadium. Oh, and my phone died. Totally, it will-not-start-ever-again!

The parking attendant refunded the parking fee with no problems and gave us directions to the Target Center which I kept calling the Staples Center (I had LA on the mind.)

When I dropped Hannah off at the front of the venue, she said something to me about focusing on the positive and I made the decision to look at everything that had gone right that day.

The scenery was beautiful all day.
Fresh cup of coffee from Starbucks mid-afternoon.
Beautiful hotel for a reasonable price.
Hotel check-in was done in record time
Refund from parking at the baseball game.

Found the Target Center easily with the new directions.
Followed two cars to a parking lot which was had easy entry
Parking cost was $9.00 instead of $20.
Followed the signs to the Center that took me on a skywalk.
Saw the Honor Society manager and met some of his family friends and had a nice conversation.
Great seats. Center of the stage, 11th row.
Arrived five minutes before the Honor Society started. Didn't miss a thing.
Sat next to a lovely woman. Her husband is a Minneapolis police officer. They have a connection to Jordin Sparks manager, I think a cousin. And she was there with her daughter and two friends and she danced the whole time!
On my other side, were two teenagers. One of them watches Hannah's youtube videos and reads her blog. She was excited to meet me and here our story.

As I said earlier, I dropped Hannah off while I looked for parking. We had agreed to meet at the Starbucks across the street because I didn't have a phone! to let her know where I would be parking.

I had about 15 minutes to sit and watch the crowd. There were other parents waiting for their teens. When they connected, the girls had bright, glowing, tear stained faces. The parents faces brightened as they watched and listened to the joy of the girls. Lots of nodding and smiling from the parents. The girls were so happy and talkative.

There were groups of teens and young 20's with arms interlocked and still singing a Jonas song as they walked down the street. There were mothers holding the hands of their 7 and 8 year old daughters, as tightly as possible, so as not to lose them. An occasional chain of young girls and a mother or two with arms tightly linked to form an invincible chain of protection. And of course, in the background, there were waves of screams as the possibility of a view of a Jonas Brother happened.

The concert was great. I was tired. And this moment of sitting and watching the crowd was a beautiful way to end a day that was pretty good after all.