Goodnight Elisabeth and a Good Night for all!

I recently went to see Counting Crows and Augustana play here in Dallas, and while I will get to the talking about the show I just want to go ahead and apologize if this post seems somewhat nostalgic or whimsical or whatever you want to call it. In the four short months since having Isabella I have experienced a myriad of emotions, mostly good, although I have had my days where I just want to crawl in bed for a year. I am sure all you moms out there know what I am talking about. But one theme keeps repeating itself over and over and that is just to try my very best to enjoy every second of being a mom because I know how fast she will grow up. So even when she is up at 4 am eating or crying because she doesn't want to do anything but be held while I need to be doing laundry or cooking or whatever, I try to tell myself to cherish these moments. I don't always succeed, but I do my best.

Continuing with this theme, we recently read a book for the book club my friends and I are in called 'A Tree Grows in Brooklyn'. This is apparently a very famous book, though I had never heard of it. I checked it out of the library so I don't have it now or else I would print a passage from the book. I promise one day I will find that passage and type it out for you all to read. =) Toward the end of the book there is a paragraph that puts a cliche we have all heard in to words that make it hit home a little better I guess. Or at least put it in to words that pull at your heartstrings. But the cliche I am talking about is you never know what you have until it is gone. Something we have all heard a thousand times but it just got to me and I have thought about it a lot since then and I guess I sort of have this goal to really just live life to the fullest and try to enjoy every single second, even when things aren't going the way I want them to. I know that before I can believe it, Jason and I will be old and gray and Bella will be in college and I will wonder where the time went. And I don't want to get there and have a bunch of regrets or feel like I didn't take advantage of everything I have.

Ok, sorry if you are reading this going 'woah this is a bit much for a Tuesday morning!'. =) Just something I have been thinking a lot about lately. You are also probably wondering what in the world this has to do with going to see this concert. Well basically in a nutshell, I love Counting Crows. They are by far my favorite band ever. If you don't know their music you are probably sitting there thinking 'oh my gosh, they sing that Mr. Jones song and if they play that song on the radio one more time I will lose it'. If that is you, please go buy their albums and give them a listen. I actually like Mr. Jones after all this time and after hearing it one million and one times on the radio, but they are SO much more than that. I could listen to their albums over and over and never get tired of them. And I have. And they are even better live. They are the kind of band that doesn't just get up there and sing their songs just like you have heard them a million times. Now I know some people hate it when bands don't sing their songs just like they are on the radio, and I get that, but Adam (the lead singer) will literally like make up new verses on the fly and he is just so in to what he is singing that you can't help but be in to it too.

The show was at Nokia in Grand Prarie and they played with Augustana, who is another band I have grown very fond of, especially their last album. I started listening to their last album about a month before Bella was born and I listened to it a lot right when she was born and it did a lot for my soul in those wee hours of morning when I was up every two hours feeding her. There are a few songs on there that I know I will listen to years from now and it will remind me of those dark, quiet hours just me and her, when at the time I probably would rather have been sleeping. But hopefully I can think back and remember them fondly. Anyway, to make a long story short (too late) the concert was great. I was there with good friends and we were all having a great time. Counting Crows sang some songs I have never heard them sing, namely Goodnight Elisabeth which is one of my all time faves. Augustana sang Hey Now which I was SO hoping they would and in the encore they all sang Simon and Garfunkel's Cecilia together, which is one of my all time favorite songs! At the end of CC concerts Adam almost always comes out and talks about their foundation Greybird. It is a foundation that helps people find ways to volunteer in their local community. Adam is really big on everyone being a part of something and pitching in and especially voting. He always gives his schpiel about how everyone can make a difference and he doesn't care who you vote for as long as you exercise your rights and it is just always really uplifting and ends the show on a very positive note. They then ended the show by singing This Land is Your Land. I mean when is the last time you heard this song? Maybe 3rd grade? It has been a long time for me and it just made me smile.

Alright, I know this post is running way long, but the whole point of it is that I had such a good time at the concert. My heart was just full listening to my favorite songs with my friends and husband and I was just happy that I got to spend those hours that way. There is a line in A Long December that sort of sums up the theme of this post that says 'I can't remember all the times I tried to tell myself to hold on to these moments as they pass'. If you haven't heard that song (and if you haven't I would be wondering what rock you were under in about 1997), then go listen to it. I wouldn't say it is even one of my favorite CC songs, but it is worth it to just hear that line sung. Seeing it typed doesn't quite do it for me.

I hope everyone is having a great day and I hope this post finds everyone happy.