Grandma? Grandpa? Is that You?
This is something I wrote in July 2010.
So, I took my kids (Age 15, 19 and 26) to see The Eagles, the 70s band, a couple of Saturdays back. My kids, though fans of modern music (That I do not like, understand, or pretend to think is good) have grown up with two parents who were raised during the 70s and 80s, and thus they have also become fans of Classic Rock. My wife decided to babysit the grand kids, so it was Bonding Time for Dad and the kids.
We pulled up to the American Airlines Center in Dallas a little early, with about 45 minutes to kill before the opening act was scheduled to start, so we were not in a big hurry. We had stopped for a burger on the way, and we sat in my truck drinking our sodas, talking about concerts, music, and such to kill a little time.
After a few minutes, I looked around me, and noticed that several of the cars around us were also occupied with people waiting for time to go into the arena. On closer examination, I noticed that 6 or 8 of them were occupied by couples, in the 50 60 year old age range, passing a doobie back and forth. Several of the men in these cars had grey ponytails, and the women all looked like the typical grandmotherly women of that age. I snickered inwardly as I watched them, remembering how many such scenes I had witnessed 30 years ago outside of (and inside) concerts much like the one that we were about to attend.
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As I sat there, my mind began to wander (as it so often does) and I started pondering what I was seeing.
The first thing that popped into my head was Where does a 60 year old go to score a lid these days?
After that, I spun it a bit further, and started wondering if they grow it themselves.
Do these senior citizens do their gardening hydroponically in their garage? (No, son, you cant go into the garage. Uhhh. Grandpa just sprayed it for bugs. Yeah, thats it, bug spray. So you cant play in the garage.
Maybe they have the same connection they had in High School (Come on, Joe. I know you broke your hip, but surely you can bring me a half bag!! I got the money right here.)
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And my mind, being what it is, kept going.
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When the kids call and tell them they are going to drop by with the grandkids, do they run all over picking up roaches and seeds, and burning incense so the kids dont know theyve been doobing out?
If they smoke it at home, do they get the munchies for high fiber snacks?
If they are almost out, do they bogart that last joint, and not tell the other one that they have it?
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I was sitting there, thinking all this stuff, when my son brought me back to reality, and informed me of the time. We got out, and started across the parking lot toward the arena, passing several of the smoke filled cars.
As we got to the street, and saw the cops directing traffic around the arena to the parking areas, I had one last little vision.
I saw one of those cars getting stopped on the way home from the concert, and Grandma and Grandpa throwing the remaining bits of their bag out the sun roof of the Lexus, telling each other Be Cool, Be Cool!!!!!
Laughing out loud, I showed my ticket at the door, went in, and my kids and I enjoyed a great show.
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This reminds me of when I lived in OKC. I worked safety/security at a local ampitheater when Ringo Starr's band played. One of the other employees looked at me and asked "who are some of these people"? I think he only knew Ringo Starr because there was a picture of the Beatles on his metal lunchbox.
I was reading some of the Music posts on the forum earlier, and it reminded me of this.
Just a funny thing that happened to me one night when I realized all these Lexus driving grandmas and grandpas were out smoking up in the parking lot of an Eagles concert.
Surreal.
Thanks for stopping by.
That reminds me of a great line in the Don Henley song "The Boys of Summer"
Out on the road today, I saw a Dead Head sticker on a cadillac
A little voice inside my head said, "don't look back. you can never look back."
I guess you saw a whole bunch of people looking back... maybe waaaaaaaaay baaaaaaaack....
Hey dude, pass that my way...
LOL!
Actually, I have a funny story of mine own to share.
My daughters like yours grew up on classic rock.
One of the first concerts they went to was a double ticket, Elton John and Billy Joel. They were around 11 at the time.
During the concert, Billy Joel, introducing his next song said, "I hadn't played this in a very long time, but I would like to. I wrote this for my first ex- wife." and he proceeded to play 'I Love You Just the Way You Are. My daughters were in heaven.
Then Elton came on, and started his intro to his next number. He said, "I wrote this for my first ex-lover. He really messed me up, and proceeded to play, "Someone Saved My Life Tonight".
Suddenly, two light bulbs went off over my kids heads and they looked at us and shrieked....
"Elton's GAY?!?!",in total shock.
Well it gave us a good laugh. It was something that we hadn't given a thought to in a very long time.
Elton J
My wife and I took an anniversary trip a couple of years back to see them (Elton John and Billy Joel) play in Salt Lake City.
Cashed in miles and flew First Class to Salt Lake City where, for some reason, they had really good seats (Lower Level Row 3, even with the stage, which was in the middle of the arena and open on both sides)
Anyway, we leave the house, get to the airport, and board the plane. Have a great time going up, and catch a cab to the hotel we are staying at up there.
It's late fall, so it is already pretty cold, but there's no snow yet, and we don't ski anyway, so we just planned on a romantic weekend at the hotel with the concert our only outing.
Cab drops us off at the hotel, and wego in and get to the desk. Very cordial young lady is checking usin, and asks us what brings us to town. We tell her it is our 20th anniversary, and we are there for the concert.
Shelooksat us and asks, "Haven't you heard?"
Wife: Heard what?
Clerk: The concert was cancelled.
Wife: Cancelled? When?
Clerk: I heard it on the radio about an hour ago.
We called, and sure enough, the concert had been cancelled while we were in the air flying up there.
Now days, every time we hear a Billy Joel or Elton John song on the radio, one of us will say, "Listen to that. Remember? We didn't hear him sing that in Salt Lake City."
Captain, we have a very similar story. Must be these two guys!
The very first time they did that concert, we landed great 2 tickets at the Meadowlands, NJ. At the time we bought the tickets, I was just pregnant with the girls. By the time of the concert, I was very pregnant with the twins, and going into pre term labor, so we had to give the tickets away.
I guess we should be glad that we didn't have to loose 2 plane tickets with the concert tickets.
Awwww, Man.
Where's the fun in spoiling Grandma and Grandpa's weekend??????
We were lucky, the plane tickets and Hotel were free because of points.
I used to travel a lot back then, so I had cashed in miles and points to pay for the flight and hotel, so the out of pocket expenses looked to be minimized to just the tickets.
When we got back, SWMBO actually got online with TicketMaster and got our money back for the tickets, so we didn't even lose that.
Although we didn't have the anniversary trip we wanted, it was still fun, and we got a good story out of it.
Mike,
Are you going to tell me that you neverimbibed in your youth?
Really?
I've actually never used the stuff, even back in the day. I did have lots of friends who did, and never saw much difference in the way it affected them than booze. Actually, they were much more mellow and less likely to cause trouble. Much more like the "Pleasant, Happy Drunk".
I just don't see what harm there is in it.
But, then again, I don't see what harm there is in lots of things unless it actually causes a problem, and them sitting in their Lexus', Infiniti's, and Mercedes blazing up was not causing me any problem, so..... Live and let Live.
Well, there were definitely a bunch of them there getting baked that night.
I never saw so many stoned geriatrics.
LOL, that is a funny turn of a phrase.
It was quite a funny scene.
As stated in the post, one of my biggest thoughts was how they got their pot, though. I just had visions of these old people trying to score an ounce, and I got the giggles.