five years ago {what? really?!} amy and i bought two tickets to “the indigo girls – live at the pier” off of ebay from someone with fozzie return address labels. it was sort of on a whim. she’d been before. i was a new fan. she was fresh from her brave girl adventure and cam-reno was a baby. we do crazy things. we climbed into her white alero and set off. only to call andrey from the side of the road an hour out of town. instead of throwing in the towel and heading back home… we had him bring a friend… and an extra car. indigo-girls-or-bust. we sat in some big dude’s big-dude tow truck and waited for my jetta-girl to come around the bend. then kept on driving.
we left baby cameron with a pumped bottle at my cousin’s and left for the show. hearing the girls sing mystery for the first time in person, under the seattle stars, breathing in the seattle air, overwhelmed me. i remember joining the crowd to chant “CHICKENMAN! CHICKENMAN!” as loud as i could – having no idea what or who the chickenman was. it was perfect. we relived each song as we found our way back through seattle traffic that night, slept on my cousin’s couch and went home different girls.
tomorrow we’ll pack ourselves back up into amy’s white alero. we’ll drive over the pass <<indigo-girls-or-bust>> to catch our fourth I.G. show together. one of two this summer. we’ll look for the ‘mommies’ and the girl with the cowboy hat. we’ll sing really loud. maybe cry. amy might even jump off the balcony - who knows! i’ll shout “i love you, emily!” just so she won’t feel left out and we’ll go home tomorrow night with lost voices and a concert hiiiiiigh. tonight is better than christmas eve. i’m giddy. antsy. can’t even think about sleep.
tickets. check.
triple A. check.
flowing concert skirt. check.
babysitter. check.
pump & bottle. check.
every I.G. album ever made. check.
++++
100 points if they sing “ozilline”
200 points if they sing “you left it up to me”
infinity points if they sing “CHICKENMAN!”