First Time at a Gig
“I’m so excited,” she said as she bounced around the kitchen. “It’s my first time at a gig.”
Zilla helped get dinner ready for the two of us as we prepared to go out and hear her Fab Dad play with his jazz group. In person.
Zilla’s heard her dad play before – on videos, mostly, and his recordings. She’s heard him play in person on occasion, but usually it’s just him, not a whole group. It’s not like a preschooler can hang out in a jazz club. I’ve heard him play live with a group many times, but it’s been quite a while for me, too. On this particular night, Fab Hub and his group were playing at a local venue, an outdoor “jazz on the patio” event. It was the perfect opportunity for Zilla to see and hear her Fab Dad play live. We were both pretty excited.
We ate dinner together – just the girls – and talked about how the rest of our evening would unfold. We talked about where we were going, about meeting my Mom there, and how to behave during the performance. We tried to guess what songs Fab Hub/Dad might play. Zilla asked who else would be playing instruments and we talked about that for a few minutes. After dinner, we changed our clothes, fixed our hair, and even put on necklaces (this was big). We were ready.
As we left the house, Zilla stopped suddenly and exclaimed, “Mom! We’re leaving the house at night!”
“That’s right. That’s what you do when you go out to a gig.”
“Because gigs are at night, right?”
“Well, this one is.”
“OK. Let’s go! We don’t want to be late for Dad’s gig. It’s my first time at a gig.”
And so off we went.
We arrived just in time, met my Mom, and found our seats – Fab Hub had a special table waiting for us right up front. Zilla was thrilled and picked the seat dead center, facing the action. We grabbed some snacks along with everyone else, managed to get the kitchen to find us some appropriate non-alcoholic five-year-old friendly refreshment, and settled in for the show.
It was a lovely night – better than most had been that week. The rain during the week finally passed over and the humidity was low; there was the slightest of a summer breeze. Zilla tipped her head back as far as she could and looked up at the stars. “I can see them,” she said. “It’s a lovely night to have a gig.” She leaned across the table and whispered loudly to my Mom, “It’s my first time at a gig, you know.”
The music started and the rest of the night unfolded pretty much the way you would expect. Zilla had a wonderful time – we all did. During the last half hour, she got pretty tired. We were out way past bedtime, after all. But she hung in there and got to hear the entire performance. Was she tired? Absolutely. Was she up way too late for a little girl? Sure. But this was a special occasion and, as my Mom said when we talked about whether to take Zilla to the event, “She should always get to hear her father play when she can.”
Through sleepy yawns, Zilla talked about the evening as we got ready for bed.
“I got pretty tired, Mamma,” she said, “and I wanted to come home.”
“I know, Zilla. Me, too. But did you like seeing your Dadda play with the other guys?”
“Yes.” yawn “I had a lovely time. It was my first time going to a gig.”
And with that, she was fast asleep.
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This is so sweet. I love her personality. You are doing such a great thing by exposing her to all the different layers of you and your husband – your cooking, his music – and she will benefit by knowing who her parents are, separate from just being Her Parents.
Sharing a life – this is what it’s all about. So awesome that she appreciates it!!
Well, that’s what we figured – let her see what we do and who we are and the things we enjoy. And it gives us experiences and memories to cling to, not just stuff. I suspect she will remember that night well. At least that’s what we’re hoping. 🙂
I want to hug her. What a sweetie.
I often feel that way. 🙂 She really is sweet and rather funny.
That is just the sweetest story. Your daughter has so much character. Your husband must have been just as excited as your daughter, being able to play a live gig in front of his daughter for the first time. I agree that she should see her dad play whenever she is able to.
Thanks, Heather. She really does have quite a personality. I don’t generally answer for my Husband, but I think it’s pretty safe to say that he was excited, too. She may be one of his biggest fans, but he is definitely hers.
What a great opportunity for her! Do you think she’ll follow in her dad’s footsteps with the musical gene? Did she ever say she wanted to be up there one day? Talk about a
Take your daughter to work” day/night!
Who knows? She gets it on both sides – her Dad is extraordinarily talented and we have a long line of musical talent from both my Mom and my Dad’s side of the family. It’s a whole lot of genetics landing right on her! She is extremely musical in several ways already. Who knows?
That’s a cute story. I love the line “Because gigs happen at night, right?” That’s totally something a little kid would say.
She must have been excited to see her dad play. That would be cool to go out and stay up and hear some good jazz. It’s things like this that make good memories.
That was definitely a funny one. I think the memories are the best things – at least that was always true for me. It was a fun night.
One of life’s very special sweetnesses is a little girl who is her daddy’s biggest fan!
You got that right!
I love this story! It made me sort of teary-eyed (in a good way) – she was just so excited about the gig 🙂
(and there’s something about a 5-year-old saying “gig” that is just too cute for words.)
I’m glad I found your blog! Can’t wait to read more 🙂
Hi, Mo! Glad you found me, too!
Yeah, her tossing around the word “gig” is hysterical. She’s cool like that, though.
I hope you took pics of Zilla at the gig. This is such a great memory to have.
You know, sadly I didn’t. My camera was in use recording the performance and my phone was having battery issues that night. So, unfortunately, no pics. But we’ll just have to keep that one in memory.
[…] should get to hear her Fab Dad play live, but this gig doesn’t even start until after 9:30 PM. Zilla went to a concert last year and was rather excited, but she was most definitely tired which kind of put a damper on the end of the evening, mostly for […]