We finally reached the day of my Mother’s Day gift! My boys and I went to the AJR concert in Camden, N.J.

First we went to Equilibrium, where my youngest had his riding evaluation. He has been riding for years, but the broken arm brought everything to a full halt. He does not quite have full range of motion in his wrist. It’s been a slight problem with playing the viola. Thankfully the riding evaluation was thorough, and went well. I got a fine giggle when the instructor, who had seen him a month or so earlier, had to readjust his stirrups. He has had a major growth spurt in the past few weeks. Even one of his friends was hesitant to approach him at an event, because the height difference made him unsure. His feet grew, too.

We had dinner at Olive Garden in Cherry Hill, N.J. Again the height difference came into play. My youngest didn’t even get a kids’ menu. Thankfully our server understood when he requested something that was on the nonexistent kids’ menu. I imagine this is a problem for a lot of preteen children who have sensory issues, food preferences, etc. As it was, I ordered from the regular menu and was a little sad that we were not going to be taking the other half of my plate home. My older son had to take a professional food handling course, and we would be out far too long for a take home box.

The concert was phenomenal. There were four opening acts! My older son was delighted because he follows the first opening act, Marilyn May.

When AJR came on, they were missing A. I won’t say it made no difference, but the concert was still great. I have always enjoyed AJR’s lyrics, because I can relate to them. The music is great, too. I was glad their regular trumpet player was there. She’s fun to watch.

I was amazed that a lot of the concert goers knew every word of every song.

One of the best moments actually happened between the openers and the main act. A DJ played a bunch of common songs, and the audience was singing. Just below us, a young man in a hat and headphones was dancing his heart out. His energy was infectious.

We had an awesome time. My youngest even managed to stay awake, at least until the drive home.

We go to lots of concerts and shows during the summer. This was one of the best. But this summer, I also got to perform at Musikfest with Joyful Noise. That was also amazing!

I wish I could bottle up all the fun things from this summer. I want to keep all those warm feelings for a good long time.