SO small.

Yes, it was amazing. Yes, I was really third row. And Yes, I am still singing Carrie Underwood. But that's not the most important part. Let me tell you a few things about this very day...

November 19, 2008.

From school, to running kids all over the place, squeezing in a few minutes here and there of homework, and a pounding headache- I was not ready for the night ahead of me. It was 4:55 pm. I had to be at Brock's house at 5:30 pm in order to eat and be on time to the concert. And at that moment. I crashed. Physically that is. My pounding head, burning throat, watery eyes, and congested chest could no longer function on a few gulps of water and a fiber one bar. I was physically exhausted.
I sat down for 30 seconds on the couch...yet we all know what actually happened. So of course, frantically I jumped up, quickly changed, gulped another glass of water (because like my mother always says, most the time when you think you're hungry- you're actually thirsty...) and flew past my mother in a mad dash to get out the door.

Fumbling fingers. Keys. Open door. Closed door. Keys in ignition. Nothing. Keys in ignition. Once again, Nothing.

In all the madness of my afternoon, I had completely forgotten how long that gas light had been on. (You all do it- or at least have done it before- admit it. The famous, "I can go a few more miles, the light hasn't been on for that long." Wrong. Don't try it.)

So it is now 5:25 pm. Anger is flooding through my veins. What am I supposed to do? I am going to make everyone else late. I ran inside, yelling for my mom. (Which, I have found seems to be the immediate response to any problem) I explained the short version- "I'm out of gas. What am I supposed to do? I'm supposed to be there in five minutes. I need your car." So selfish. She needed the car. Anger pulsing now through my entire body. Didn't she see how much I needed it? Couldn't she tell how important this was to me? (Selfish once again.) Yes. But sometimes the lesson is more important.

I will never forget her response.

"Well, this was your choice, and now you have to pay the consequence."

So, with her amazing patience and love, my mother drove me to the gas station, helped me fill up a gas tank and get on the road.

So what is the point? Yes, I was late. Yes, I had 3 friends anxiously waiting my arrival. But Yes, I learned a lifelong lesson that night. Thanks to a mother who never seems to stop caring, and teaching me. Thanks to a hero.

And it all hit me during the concert. I realized that none of that mattered after all- it all really was so small.

"When you figure out love is all that matters after all it sure makes everything else seem so small"

Take a minute. What really matters to you?"