MoM and Family

Saturday afternoon I stood in Jones Park listening to Dan Rodriguez play a set when I got a message on the family text chain.

My sister Kathy had sent us a picture of herself with Mile of Music artist Nathan Graham.

She was pretty proud of that picture, which her husband Keith snapped on their way from the Lawrence Chapel to Houdini Plaza. I have to say, I was also impressed.

Not ten minutes later, Nathan Graham walked past me and I stopped him.

“Would you mind taking a picture with me?” I asked him. “You just took a picture with my sister and if you take one with me now it will drive her crazy.”

He laughed and said, “Sure!”

I sent it off to the fam.

“You have got to be kidding me,” Kathy wrote.

So, I had a little time to feel smug.

Sunday afternoon, my husband Vince texted the family chain.

He, too, had run into Nathan Graham and asked for a picture with him because he knew it would drive my sister and me nuts.

Yesterday, Kathy, Vince and I, along with Keith and my sister in-law Donna, wrapped up a fantastic Mile of Music Festival seeing our newest family member, Nathan Graham, perform at the Fox River House.

Then we hiked up to the Lawrence Chapel for the A Song Before We Go concert.

Of course, Mile of Music is all about the songwriting and the performers and the opportunities we have to appreciate new artists.

But, it’s also about family.

Some members of my extended family have already locked in their hotel rooms for next year. I saw friends-who-feel-like-family all over Mile of Music and I gave a whole bunch of sweaty hugs. I saw a few artists so many times they feel like family members.

Honestly, at this point, the pie-baking members of Bandits on the Run are either going to serve me a slice or a restraining order.

But, man, if you caught them at the Chapel on Saturday afternoon, or anywhere else they played, I bet you’re a Bandits on the Run groupie now too.

I saw Rebel Eves several times too, and now I want to bake them pie and tell them they’re wonderful. Leon Timbo and his band sang so soulfully Sunday afternoon I welled up. And, we kind of stumbled into his set as we jockeyed for seats ahead of the Nathan Graham set. I’d love to have Leon over for dinner some time. I bet he’d be a lively guest.

And, wowzers, were you at that Bermuda Search Party set Saturday night? My family members and I were, scattered in three areas of the crowded courtyard at McFleshman’s, soaking up all that energy, talent and joy.

I loved them all too.

I asked Donna what her favorite Mile of Music acts were this year and she said, “That’s like asking a mother who her favorite children are. I loved them all.”

I did too.

See you next year, fam!