Cheap Seats

Last night Jeff and I went to a Ben Folds/John Mayer concert at an amphitheater nestled into the mountains right outside San Diego. We opted for the "cheap" seats on the lawn, though those were still rather expensive to us. As we were driving up to the amphitheater it looked so intimate, but the folks on stage still managed to look like little dolls in blue t-shirts with toy guitars. It was remarkably chilly for being in the desert so we huddled together, sitting on half of one of the blankets I brought and folding the rest of it up over our legs, wrapping the second around our shoulders. Ben Folds was a spectacular performer and the wit coming through in his lyrics came out in his stage performance. We had heard John Mayer in Pittsburgh five years ago before he was big and though he's seemingly just as narcissistic as before (there were several references to the girls holding signs saying they loved him), his singing has definitely improved. It was quite the production, lots of riggamarole and ricketa racketa. Lights, cameras, LOTS of musicians (we counted four guitarists), and big screens. I sort of missed that off-key, small venue experience of Mr. Mayer we had before. John Mayer's songs are often sentimental and sad about the reality of growing up. It was touching to me to realize how far Jeff and I have come in the five years since hearing his music for the first time. Gravity is taking its toll, our bodies aren't the Wonderlands they were before, and rather than missing our childhood as he does, we're crafting a childhood for Sophia now. We decided halfway through the concert that given the cost of our tickets, our fast food dinner and the exhorbitant cost of babysitting ($8 an hour for one sleeping child), that this would be Jeff's father's day present. After handing our cash to the babysitter I got Sophia up for her final feeding. Sleepy as she was, she gave both of us a big grin and welcomed us back to this thing we call our life.