Dave

dave matthews was in connecticut last weekend!  i know this because i live with grace.  she loves dave matthews.  we have "dave" in our house, on our computers, in our car and on random i-pods we travel with.  grace has given us dave.

in the beginning, i was vaguely aware of dave.  

claire, our niece, is the one responsible for bringing dave into our lives.  claire>grace> us. he became more and more in demand...for grace.  the rest of us were hearing dave in the back round of our own lives.  

 

dave did not impress t.j.  dave was o.k. for me.  i just didn't need another man in my repertoire.  he was just there, neither here nor there.

biff had no opinion regarding dave.  he could enjoy him. he could see why people liked dave. dave was o.k.

we're the family who enjoys music. lots of different kinds of music. we love exposing our kids to music in different venues with a variety of singers and bands with myriad styles.  we're the parents who played music to our babies...before they got here. 

we have listened to dave in the distance.  we have listened to dave while grace has belted  out every word of every song in every room in our house. at first, t.j. would shout out, "grace...please stop singing...GRACE! please stop singing!" grace was shocked when he would BEG her to stop.  

he's told his friends about her unending singing.  he can hardly take a car ride with dave and grace.we've had grace go up and sing in her room. didn't work. once the weather warmed up, t.j. complained that he could still hear grace belting out dave.  it seems that while she was upstairs belting it out, her window was open.  t.j. was in the family room with the windows open. she belted and echoed it throughout the neighborhood!

t.j. couldn't get away!  personally, i love to hear grace sing.  she has a great voice.  she's always happy when she's singing. the music has been growing on me. what's not to like?

grace began to share her music with us.  she began telling us about dave...sharing dave. more and more, dave began to creep into our daily life.  biff, t.j. and i began to like dave.  we began to ask grace more about dave. 

months ago, grace got word that dave would be in connecticut.  we had to get tickets.  we HAD to go. great idea.  we would all go.  t.j. was o.k. with it...not thrilled.  as time went on, t.j. began to enjoy dave.  i began to listen a bit more to grace's songs by dave.

after we discussed the dave concert,  grace went to school.  for days, grace would come home with another friend who wanted to join us.  we were happy to take a friend.  

as time went on, our family concert  outing began to grow. we were taking grace, t.j. and 4 girls.  that would mean 2 cars.  one small event turned into a convoy!

we had heard stories.  we heard about dave concerts.  our kids were young but they knew music. 

we spoke to all of the parents.  we knew that they knew about dave concerts.  we discussed concert etiquette and our rules for this outing!

grace loves planning and coordinating!  funny, so do i!  most of this was taken care of, by grace.  biff and i talked to the parents.  t.j. didn't care about taking friends.

the cars were biff and t.j.  and me, grace, hannah, kiley, eliza and becca.  grace was rushing me.  we had to hurry.  we didn't want to be late. we had to get there. we had to go.  i ran out to the car.  biff was giving a lecture to my passengers regarding our rules.  they had heard the same from their parents.  we were happy to enforce the rules.  when biff was finished, i think they had a pretty good idea that if there was any problem at all...we would leave them there and their parents could retrieve them...or something scary enough along those lines.

i got out to the car.  with the keys.  biff and t.j. were in biff's car...ready to go.  i started up my car. 

grace looked over at me and said, "mom, your shirt's on inside out."  i said i would be right back. a mad dash into the garage allowed me to switch the shirt around...speed style.  i ran back to the car.

i again buckled my seat belt.  i put the car in reverse.  everyone was chatting. we were all excited. before i began rolling, becca called out to me, "mrs. biff, your shirt is on inside out!"  again, like superman, i ran and did a quick change. i double checked.  i was o.k.

i got back into the car and told becca that i loved her!  that's just the beginning of our concert fun!