walking in on your parents

You wouldn't expect at a middle school band concert to have an experience that would make you feel somewhat traumatized, but that's what happened to me last night.

Yesterday went from an okay day, to a bit of a grim day. I was post op from my hysterectomy nine days and somewhat putting out of my head the multiple warnings that even though you'll feel good and will feel like you can do stuff, don't. So I went from the feeling pretty good wave that I was riding to pretty sucky -- but that doesn't mean that I could skip my daughter's last band concert of the year -- she plays the bass saxophone and I'm super proud. I decided that I had to walk the block over because I had no ride and if I drove there wouldn't be parking closer than my house anyway. As I set out, a Jeep pulls into my driveway and in the fashion of a very ornery 85 year old woman, I interrupted the dad on his phone (he was dropping my daughter off from tennis) and pretty much made my way into his car before asking? for a ride to the high school. I told him I had just had surgery, which he knew and was super sweet -- I think he actually told me that I looked like a doll, which was weird, and cheerfully drove me over.

I made my way into the high school and in the same mental state of my 85 I don't give a shit because I'm old manner I procured a seat in the back that was potentially being saved by a coat for someone else. Too bad. That is when I finally took in my environment, the fellow parents, gathered to watch the middle schoolers play Internationally themed music with the added bonus of a presentation the kids made for each country. I thought it was so clever to add this in because the kids got a better sense and appreciation for the culture and traditions of the music they were playing. The slides flipped a little too fast and by the time I would get to the bottom of the Fascinating Fact -- the last sentence that enlightened and gripped you, the slide would turn. I did, however, get to see a few about England -- the slide is too blurry but essentially it was that King Henry VIII exploded in his coffin and his remains were licked up by dogs. It said that this was predicted but I couldn't read the name of this soothsayer. They also mentioned that England had more chickens than people with an accompanying photo of a dead fish over a bucket.

Okay, so I was learning a lot (Bolivia was the first to get rid of McDonalds --Yay Bolivia! and in Mexico you weren't supposed to flush TP down the toilet with an accompanying photo of a roll of toilet paper). I was considerably engaged, and yet -- my attention kept coming back to the family in front of me. They were adorable -- they had one older son, slumped in his chair -- guessing he was 5th or 6th grade -- not sure. Then there was a diminutive girl with pigtails who was incredibly delicate, her tiny little arms dangling out of her white short sleeve button up top with a school uniform like plaid skirt -- she was early elementary probably. There was another boy, who was maybe three who kept peeking over his seat at me, and then the baby -- probably one and a half-ish, a tiny little guy who did that cute baby thing where they open their mouth and lunge for their mother's face like he's going to eat her. The dad looked like a young Rick Moranis with darker hair and small spectacles, neatly dressed in a hip navy jacker that reminded me of Sir Jacks (remember those?) but his was cooler. The wife had an adorable cropped haircut with that beautiful blue/black hair that Asians are blessed with, also petite glasses, high cheek bones, a wispy infinity scarf and an interesting sweater?vest? that she pulled off. They were adorable. I was quite entertained by them as the band transitioned between songs and grades. Then we got to Brazil.

Okay, this family seemed uniquely and very authentically happy. They smiled warmly at each other, the kids crawled playfully over the parents -- it was sweet. However, I got a weird, not at all expected or desired glimpse into what they (the parents) were like when they were really getting excited. With seductive Brazilian music playing in the background, he would look over at her doing a weird kind of shoulder dip chin down thing with a knowing glance. She was really into the music, chair dancing in a smooth rhythmic way despite the kid(s) on her lap and would look back at him, both of them exchanging an intimate little smile. It felt very awkward to be seeing this and I tried to not look. Then the combined bands played Africa by Toto and the two of them were beyond ecstatic. He started mouth lipping the words, chin on shoulder, giving her the eye, and I couldn't believe how well she was able to boogie down in her seat, glancing over at him. I seriously felt like I had just walked in on my parents and I was really uncomfortable. I promise I tried to not look -- I made a paper airplane out of the concert sheet thing, I searched for my water bottle -- and then it was over. I will never experience that song the same way ever again which bums me out because I really liked it. It also occurred to me that they had FIVE kids because they were obviously there to watch one -- and it is really easy to see why.