Teenage Years

It's official. I'm the mother of a teenager. I'm not quite sure how I feel about it. On one hand, she feels like she's slipping through my fingertips. On the other, we are growing a strong bond as mother and daughter. It's hard sometimes to remember when she was as a baby and toddler...it seems like so long ago, yet it's gone by in a blink of an eye. She had the hardest start in life and to see her and how far she's come has been miraculous. We can never be thankful enough for the blessing she has been to us. She came here with a specific purpose, one of which was served during her first few months. Jason and I needed her more than anything. She brought our hearts closer together with faith which started our family on the foundation needed to last us through a lifetime and throughout eternity.

We now move to the next stage. I can hardly wait to see what lies ahead: driving, dating, jobs, high school, first loves, first heartbreaks, etc. I'm sure it won't get easier, but she is becoming a beautiful young woman who I so enjoy just hanging out with. She's starting to really understand me and my personality. She has started sharing her humor more and makes me smile when she gets a little sassy. We can laugh and cry at the same TV shows, and sit and talk about hard things in life. I hate to lose my little girl, but I love the friendship I'm developing with her.

For her 13th birthday, I wanted to share something with her that I love and since she's into music as well, I knew I wouldn't have to talk her into it. We got tickets and went to the Muse and Silversun Pickups concert.

First up was Silversuns. I have loved this band for a long time. If I wasn't married with a family, I think I could easily become a groupie. I would be happy just to set up speakers and drum sets. I have followed them from state to state attending concerts. They remind me of earlier Smashing Pumpkins music..which again, is one of my favorites. I have autographed junk from SSPU's and have hung out with them after concerts getting all the inside 411 on albums and music. It was nice to see them have an extended audience and play in an arena like US Airways. Yet, they kept their humble attitude and remarked how they knew since they were in such a large crowd that the people were not there to see them. They definitely interacted more with the crowd than Muse did. They played most of their songs from the Swoon album, of which I was excited because all the other concerts were from Caranvas and Pikul. They sounded great and were full of energy.

But then, Muse came out.

It made SSPU's look amateur, but what can you expect? More money and experience go a long way.

Muse was spectacular. Once they appeared, no one sat the entire concert. I can honestly say, they sound better live than on CD.

Here was their playlist for the evening:

Uprising

Resistance

New Born

Supermassive Black Hole

Guiding Light

Interlude

Hysteria

Nishe

United States Of Eurasia

Feeling Good (Leslie Bricusse & Anthony Newley cover)

Helsinki Jam

Undisclosed Desires

Starlight

Unnatural Selection

Time Is Running Out

Plug In Baby

Exogenesis: Symphony, Part 1: Overture

Stockholm Syndrome

Knights of Cydonia

Megan and Hannah were also there...so we obviously had good commentary throughout the night since I saw we texted 159 times throughout the concert. Ahhh...if only I could post all of those. :)

On Saturday, Brynna went with some friends to see 'The Last Song' and had ice cream afterwards. I hope she had a great birthday and truly feels special. We feel so blessed to have her in our lives.

**On a side note...Alisa Jones: I didn't save your blog address on my blog, so I tried to go and my invitation had expired. Can you send me another invite? Preeettyyyy Please? jenjatan@hotmail.com