The Need for Speed …Wagon

A couple weeks ago (Look at that. Only 2 weeks late. I’m closing the gap!), Mike had the opportunity to go to a user conference for work. Ironically, the vendor hosting the conference was Marco. You know, the company Mike worked at for 12 years before taking the Anchor Bank job. Life has gone full circle and Mike now uses Marco as a vendor to support some of the technology at the theater. Even when Mike left, he retained relationships with people at Marco and has always respected the company. So he’s pleased to be back with them in some way.

The user conference itself is nothing to blog about. He learned lots of IT technical stuff and his nerdy little heart was super happy. BUT – the evening networking event is where the news is. They brought in REO Speedwagon to play a concert – just for the conference attendees. And guests. Bet you can’t guess who volunteered to be Mike’s guest in a hot second!!!

Nanny J agreed to watch the ladies and add a Declan for the evening. D was super excited to finally get time with her and she got to see the differing dynamics when little bro is in the picture. Once I got everyone settled, I met Mike at the event center to quickly grab some apps and a drink (or two) from the happy hour before the concert. The concert started about 5:45 and they played until 7:00. We were home in time to put the kids to bed – albeit with ringing ears!

We started the concert sitting in the back section. Mike’s inner introvert wins out in bigger venues. While initially shocked at how old they looked (like seriously was worried someone was going to break a hip), they still sounded great. And I made it close to an hour of dancing in my seat before I simply couldn’t take it anymore.

And with that, I made Mike dig deep to gather some “front row behavior” and off we went to dance right in front of the stage. And by dance, I mean me. And by stand there feeling uncomfortable, I mean Mike. We got to hear the last three or four songs up close and personal – which was just the best thing ever. Mike even caught a pick from the guitar player when he threw it out in the crowd (which I promptly claimed).

It was such a fun date night and not something that we normally do together (probably in part because of our exact opposite concert behavior inclinations).