Before you get all “cheater cheater pumpkin eater” I’ll have you know that I didn’t actually go on a date with Ray Lamontagne. I was with my corporate hubster who gets the most amazing free tickets at the very last minute (shout out to the mother in law for jumping is and babysitting). Holla!

Now as a major fan of Ray, I was super excited when he told me he had gotten the tickets and a babysitter. So much so that I called his work line and screamed inappropriately in his ear, but that’s neither here nor there.

Even bigger of a deal was that this was our very first date night without kids since Minnie was born, so by the time our sitter arrived we were ready to blow this popsicle stand and have fun just hanging out.

So the concert was great. Like, cry your eyes out, get lost in the scratchy deep warblings of a man who clearly felt enough pain to make you ache to the core, great. There’s just something so earthy about a man who literally is there to just play. In the entire two hours I’m not sure he said 10 words to the crowd. The man is not an entertainer. He just plays to your heart. It was everything that this tired mom of three (holy hell there’s three now) needed.

Plus the mere fact that the stand up bass player (uh coolest instrument ever) was named Zacheriah Higgins (coolest name ever) and not only could he make the standup bass literally tear up the music (stand up bass…who knew), but he had a handle bar mustache and dressed like he was on a quick break from serving ice cold “Beah” here at the local saloon. FYI That was my best saloon voice if you couldn’t tell… I stand by the mere fact that there just aren’t enough handle bar mustaches in the world you know? I guess no one makes that type of commitment to facial hair anymore. What a world we’ve become!

Speaking of hair, not only were there floral crowns as far as the eye could see, but being bald is truly in. I told my husband that this is his time. Seriously, being bald only comes around every couple thousands of years ( I think the last time it was in, the Spartans defeated Persia) and that he needed to bask in the moment. If eye rolling is a sign of basking then I think he took my advice.

But my hands down, favorite thing was that our seats happened to be a row and a seat behind my cousin, which was a PRIME photo bombing location and totally not planned. What in the heck are the odds of that?