If You Didn't Go to a Mumford and Sons Concert, Was It Even Summer?

Spoiler alert: no. 

I think that loving music must be at least partially genetic, because both my younger kid and I LOVE music. LOVE it, which I used to think was the default setting for all of humanity, until I met my partner, who has never once purposefully listened to a song for pleasure. And our older kid is the same. When she was little I thought that she did love music, because she was all about They Might Be Giants and Victor Johnson, but what she was actually doing was listening over and over again to the They Might Be Giants album Here Comes Science, which is all about science stuff, and the Victor Johnson album Multiplication and Skip Counting Songs, which is all about math.  

But to be fair, if you've ever listened to that Victor Johnson album, you'll understand that all the songs on it are indeed bangers!

Oh, and this obscure 2002 SteveSongs album. We still put this on occasionally and we all STILL know all the words!

Anyway, I think that happy willingness to engage in a non-preferred activity must also be genetic, because both the younger kid and I pout our heads off if we're not doing exactly what we want literally every second of every day, but my partner and older kid are happily willing, even if they don't give a flip about the music, to simply pal along with me and the younger kid to all the sweaty, rainy, uncomfortable outdoor concerts that, in my eyes, define summer:

Thanks to getting there super early and standing in line forever, we got lawn seats right at the front for this Mumford and Sons concert. We spread our butts out as much as possible to hold our ground, but people didn't really cram in like they should, so after the opening act, when I saw a couple meandering down the aisle in front of the lawn section and peering into the crowd, I was all, "Those two are about to bogart themselves a spot. Do NOT let them push you back!"

Indeed, the couple pointed at us and then made a beeline over, and ended up squeezing themselves into the six square inches between our blanket and the blanket behind us. It's definitely one way to avoid having to get to the concert early! Anyway, we're pretty mean and judgmental when you can't hear us, so we have discussed this couple numerous times since then, and there's always something new and rude for us to chew over. So I guess they did in the end pay the mandatory emotional fee for sitting next to us! The family on our left put the younger kid with them under their own giant umbrella when it began to bucket down rain, and the couple on our right gave the older kid their spare pair of Loops because she was in such obvious discomfort by the third song of the opening act. So see, getting roasted in absentia for two full months is practically nothing!

OMG that rain. In all my outdoor concertgoing life, only once has it ever not rained on me! Last year, when we got evacuated to a storm shelter over a mile away on foot, was absolutely the worst, and at least this time we didn't have to leave the venue, but omg did it absolutely pour. 

Whatever. I will sit on a blanket hunched over like a dog suffering through any amount of rain, as long as afterwards, Mumford and Sons plays for me!

My partner took all the photos and videos so I could enjoy the concert, and he happened to be filming during "Ditmas" when Marcus Mumford left the stage, ran through the audience right next to us, and I lost my mind with happiness:

I love it when musicians make an effort to give those of us with the plebeian tickets something special, too, and this was honestly one of the coolest concert moments I've ever experienced. Like, I don't think he even had a path set out ahead of time, or a plan--he was dodging picnic blankets and slipping in the mud and I don't know how his lighting and security guys kept up with him. It was the BEST.

After the concert, a kind stranger saw me struggling to take a family selfie and offered to take it for me. I LOVE how it turned out, even though you can't see us at all, lol:

Because if you don't take a terrible family photo while you're all soaked and bedraggled from sitting outside during a rainstorm, muddy from standing in a wet field for four hours, and anticipating the midnight fast food stop in your immediate future, was it even summer?

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