Hannah Montana

Well, after much discussion back and forth, we finally decided to buy (scalp) the Hannah Montana tickets for the girls. Sold out show, November 24, tickets on Ebay going for $1,000 and up -- and sometimes that's just for TWO. So weird.

I remember back in the New Kids days how crazy it was, but was it sold out and people scrambling for tickets? I guess so because I can remember we sold some tix during that time, but I KNOW it wasn't as costly as it is for this show -- Inflation?!?

I know we'll get lots of comments, rolled eyes, whispers behind our back about spoiled children, blah, blah, blah. But you know what? I remember from the time I was old enough to remember going to concerts -- lots of concerts -- and I loved them. I remember SOOOO many, too many to list here. I loved that experience, something about the fact that you were in the same place with the person actually singing the songs you listened to on the radio made it like magic. I still love that experience.

Joe took me to Rascal Flatts last year with my two cousins and it was an absolute blast. I'm 38 years old and I still get a great big thrill out of it. There's no explanation, no picture I can draw, no way to explain why it is such a joy to me. (It's not like I love being in enormous crowds of people.) Maybe because it always carries me back to those times with Mom and Dad at the shows I first saw with them or to the first concert I got to attend alone with my best friend (Rick Springfield, Civic Coliseum, seventh grade). Maybe it's just because it gives me 3 hours of no responsibilities, no obligations, no worries. Who knows? Whatever it is, I want my girls to have it for themselves. And after our Cheetah Girls experience earlier this year, it is obvious they love the concert thing, too.

So after much discussion about it all, we're going. We're making it a birthday present for each of them and we're going.

Some people -- and I can probably name most of them -- are gonna have lots of judgment toward us about this decision, some of them reading this right at the moment. I guess the way I feel about that is -- respectfully -- I don't give a flip what anybody else thinks about it. My girls are awesome, fun, happy kids and I hope I can perpetuate that in them until they are grown and that it will live on somewhere in them until they're parents.

And if giving them memories that will stick with them until they're 38 years old costs me more than the asking price, so be it. I can't take it with me anyway. But I can leave all of those times -- concerts, beach vacations, ball trips, manicures/pedicures -- with them. So when I'm gone they'll be able to reach back and find those memories and laugh or smile or cry, whatever.

Then, when they're taking my grandkids to their first show, they can tell the story of their trip to Hannah Montana, or whoever, while they're loading up on concert programs and searching for their seats. And they'll get it when their little ones scream and yell and jump up and down when the show starts.

Time is so short and they're only little for a blink, a wink, a second. What is that song of Hannah Montana's Kelsey sings all the time? Life's what you make of it, so let's make it rock. Corny, corny, but so, so true. So if you're out on November 24 near the Thompson Boling Arena, I'll be the one clapping and laughing and singing with two little people and the old geezer and not regretting one millisecond of it!