It’s just an old black Jeep. I bought it when Elle was four and I’ve had it ever since. It’s taken us up and down many highways and still bears her middle school honor roll sticker on the windshield. It wobbles, shakes, and is noisier than a plane about to take off, but it always got us there.
One of our many adventures ended up at the Salvage Station in Asheville. It’s an open-air concert venue that is home to stacked shipping containers, food trucks, picnic tables by the river, and Elle’s second concert with me. We arrived early enough to grab a bite to eat and explore the grassy field for a place to sit during the Michael Franti concert that we were about to witness.
Near the front, concertgoers had already laid out blankets, towels, and anything else they could to secure a spot close to the action. Remembering from earlier, I took us over to a couple of smaller platforms that were set up away from the main stage. We sat on the ground between them and waited for the music to start.
The opening reggae band finished, and after a short delay, Michael Franti began to play. As the sun set and the night sky filled with stars that mimicked LED fibers, the crowd surged toward the stage; realizing we wouldn’t get close enough to catch a souvenir, we stayed right where we were with our unobstructed view.
Magic struck during the middle of the concert when Franti hopped off stage and began singing and strumming his guitar through the crowd. And his destination? One of the two platforms that we were situated between! Elle would be close to the action after all! I glanced down for just a second, and when I looked back up—he was right beside us! She looked to me for approval; after a quick nod, she hesitantly reached out and tapped him on the shoulder.
As I looked back down, her face was beaming and the Cheshire Cat could not have produced a bigger grin. I looked back up, blinked, and just like that the music had finished, and the stage lights were now aglow. We hurriedly made our way to the parking lot, climbed into the Jeep, and began to pull out.
“Wasn’t that great?! You got to tap him on the shoulder!!”
She quietly snored from the passenger seat.
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