So, while my Turning 40 friend Andi has a list of 13 things she wants to do this year, I want to keep my calendar full of a bunch of little things that make me happy in the moment. No, I did not start my 40th year buying 40 tickets.... but I did start it by charging a few more than usual and at this rate, I bet I will have collected 40 by the end of the year.
First up, two tickets to The Laramie Project, a play my friend Kyle Kushnir acted in. The story was about Matthew Shepard, who was gay and in 1998 was "beaten and left to die tied to a wire fence on a hillside in Laramie, Wyoming." He died six days later. Moving. Emotional. Impactful. I am so grateful for living in a gay-friendly town.
(p.s. This was my night out with Tony and did I mention we started the evening at a local pub playing music bingo from the 50's and 60's? If you ever want to feel younger, hit a neighbourhood pub in Victoria...)
Next up, two tickets to the Victoria Salmon Kings hockey game. This was my night out with Kje. Just me and him, hundreds of beavers, cubs and scouts, and thousands of Salmon Kings fans. Local hockey doesn't quite compare to the Vancouver Canucks, but heck, parking is free, there are never lineups in the washroom (and shorter lineups for beer), and Kje scored a free ticket to Butterfly Gardens (yet another ticket!). Tony was out of town so we ended the night with a giggly sleepover party at home - just the two of us. What more could you want in a Saturday night? Sunday in tropical Butterfly Gardens!
The Rickshaw was once a Chinese language kung-fu action movie theatre (how cool is that!) but in 2009 was transformed into a local music hall and warehouse space for artists. The third pair of tickets I bought was for my night out with Paris. We started in Zulu Records watching Lou Barlow of Sebadoh up close, acoustic and intimate, then made our way to the Rickshaw for the Sebadoh concert. Must admit I loved being part of the late-night indie rock scene, which transformed me back to my early twenties when I first started listening to Sebadoh, but loved even more being the cool Mom for the night. Yep, nice bumping into my friend Mikala, a.k.a. The Backstage Rider, who knows the band and helped with our "bought the t-shirt, met the band" memorable night.
Three nights of stellar entertainment. But the best part was spending time with my three boys and accompanying friends while we laughed so hard we spilt beer over our bingo cards, held hands in the dark and cried in our seats, threw pucks on the ice, shouted out song requests, danced until closing time, and made memories whee, whee, whee all the way home. If I do nothing this year but collect tickets for quality time with the people I love, I will be one exhausted, happy camper. (Which reminds me, I need to book my camping reservation...)
So...the fun didn't stop there. What other tickets did I buy? Plane tickets to San Francisco, Las Vegas, San Francisco (yep, times two...thank god for points) and Maui. Ski lift tickets for spring break. Also, concert tickets to see Pavement with Paris. But those are stories for another night. (All adds up to 31 tickets in total already...)
And yes, I did buy a lottery ticket (make that 32) to try to pay for it all. We only won $5 bucks.... which means my motto for the year, "Pay For The Fun When I'm 41," has been kicked into overdrive.
1 comment:
Particularly loved when Lou Barlow, after the show, said that Paris and his friend were "so sweet" and that it was cool to meet "kids who were into our stuff". I have to admit, I did particularly enjoy pointing out that it was Lou's baby bum on the poster he signed for Paris. :D ps, thanks for the mention Susan. You do rock! As you, and as a mom. I remember my mum taking me to gigs. She told me once not to wear too much hairspray because people were flicking cig butts off the balconies, and she didn't want me going up in flames! Gig-going mums are cool! x
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