"Mama, please please please can you see if we can get tickets to the Michael Buble' concert?"

Ahh yes. Music to my ears, that my hip-hop, hide-that-she's-listening-to-disgusting-lyrics-from-me child would show an interest in something more genteel. That and the fact that she was wanting a girls' night out with me made me highly motivated to find tickets for us. I was just so grateful to see she had an interest in something besides hip-hop, and I was willing to pay just about anything to support that trend.

My daughter said she would pay me back for her ticket, so I found a scalper online and paid way too much money for great floor seats. But seeing him perform was worth every penny. He is made of awesome. His voice is like silk, his phrasing is impeccable, and his aura is captivating.

It wasn't, however, worth every penny to end up paying for what was supposed to have been my daughter's seat. What can I say. She was offered back-stage passes after "we" had already bought the tickets, and I ended up giving her ticket to a friend. I had the choice of making her pay for the ticket, with me sitting next to an empty seat, or paying for it myself and inviting someone to sit next to me. So it more than kinda messed up our mother-daughter outing, but I couldn't begrudge her the chance to ride to the concert in a limo and actually meet the guy.

That's the Susan [insert last name here] Story.

What is it about us parents that make us so overindulgent? You know, if you take a moment or two to observe children--or even ourselves--you realize that the worst thing that could happen is not hardship, or even trauma (provided you walk alongside them and they are shown how to endure these things). One of the worst things that happens to them is overindulgence. And yet, I find myself giving them more things than I can afford myself. I mean, here I am, worse off than Job's turkey, and I'm spending you-don't-even-want-to-know-how-much on tickets.

But I'm glad she had the chance to meet Michael Buble' and have her picture made with him. Hopefully it will inspire her to be more diligent on stretching her music abilities. I know he was inspirational to me.

Interesting observation on this stage in my life: At another point in time, I would have daydreamed about what it would be like to be with him; now I'm daydreaming about what it would be like to BE him. He was just so cool and . . . warm.

Oh wait. That IS what I am. ;-)

Now, if I can just find my way back to my piano and start playing music . . .

[photo courtesy of my friend Michelle Tripp]