Last Friday I surprised the kids with an adventure. (surprise & delight, it’s so much fun.)

I am sure I have mentioned one of our favorite bands – The Okee Dokee Brothers  – before.  They aren’t really brothers.  They are really a fantastic duo from Minnesota who write and perform clever music with a target audience of kids but with witty lyrics and catchy tunes and a folksy bluegrass feel that I actually WANT to listen to on repeat car trip after car trip.  (Look up these songs first – “The Good Old Times”, “Hard Road To Travel”, “Out of Tune” and “Thousand Star Hotel” for starters.)

I told the kids that we were going to see Joe and Justin LIVE on stage!

We did our day’s school work.  We packed a little bag.  We dropped our exuberant dog off at a friend’s house.  We hit the road – Charlotte bound.

Of course we listened to Okee Dokee Brothers music as we trekked along.  Past the giant peach.  Headed to meet some Charlotte friends for dinner before the show.  But then a text exchange with another friend who was meeting us at the concert too informed me that the concert began at 7 p.m.  I was sure the concert started at 8 p.m.  I based all of my plans on an 8 p.m. concert start time.

I was wrong.

A panic overtook me.

Who gets the time wrong to a concert you drive two hours to see??

My friend Kristie swooped in like a magician and tossed the meal we had been planning to eat together at her home into her minivan with her sweet kids and she and her family met us at a nearby park.  We feasted (in a hurry) on BBQ from her crock pot and watermelon and salad.  It was delicious.  And so very kind.

I felt guilty as we bolted from the park, leaving all the good eats and good friends behind to clean it up, and raced to downtown Charlotte – a city with basically no street side parking and a GPS that kept aggressively telling me that I had arrived despite the fact that I could NOT see our concert’s location.  Also, the parking garage was very tiny.  And our car is very big.  The Yukon did not care for the parking garage height restriction.  Ay-yi-yi!

The six of us raced out of the parking garage like crazy people.  Literally like crazy people.  The clock said it was 6:58.  As we asked security guards left and right where to go, I am certain we looked possessed.  (And why were there so many security guards?  They were everywhere!)  London heard a passerby loudly say, “Stampede” as we ran by.  Yeah.  We looked like a stampede.  So much for all five kids being dressed in tidy clothing with mostly no stains or rips for once.  We were all sweating and panting and looking unglued by the time we found the correct venue and rushed in to find our seats – mere seconds before the show started.

(Our seats were directly in front of our friends – even though neither of us had planned that at all!)

It was crazy.  We were crazy.  But the show was not.

It was a little surreal to be just a few rows back from these two guys that we have been listening to and watching (they have three “movies” on Netflix) so often.  They sounded great and seemed so down to earth and regular that we all just had such a great evening.

At one point there was a little audience participation and all of the kids were encouraged to do this little dance.  A “winner” was chosen to receive a CD/DVD from The Okee Dokee Brothers.  Next thing you know, my little Piper is being congratulated and called to the stage to receive her prize for winning.  She was ecstatic and took her bow after Justin asked her name.

When the show was over we waited in line to have our book signed – and now our new CD too.  We debated how old the musicians actually are.  (I still want to know.  I am such a bad guesser at ages – especially men with beards.)

At their table the guys signed our memorabilia and Piper said, “I feel like we know you guys.”  They both politely laughed.  Then she said, “I think we could have you over for dinner and it wouldn’t be weird at all.”  Then they both really laughed.  Joe told her, “Well, I like to think that this is the beginning of a friendship, so when we come for dinner it won’t be weird.”

Seriously, they don’t know us.  But we really would have them over for dinner – and it probably wouldn’t be that weird after all.

We left the concert hall, worked extra hard to remember which short parking garage we shoved our vehicle in, and eventually made our way through the Charlotte city streets to our car.

Once safely in our vehicle and on the street again I gasped to the kids, “You guys!  Look – there on the sidewalk.  It’s The Okee Dokee Brothers!”

Because it was.

Just the two guys walking down the dark street, carrying their instruments.  (Maybe their car was too giant for all the parking garages too.)

I told the kids I was going to offer them a ride.

“NO, MOM!  Don’t!  That’s too weird!”  they all screeched.

I rolled down my window.  Kids are in a panic.  What is Mom going to do?

“Hey fellas – we loved your show tonight.  It was so good,” I shouted to the two strangers.  Which wasn’t weird at all, right?

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