New Kids Fan For Life

So, there I was last Thursday morning just hanging out with the kiddos when I get a phone call. It's my sister, Bethany, and she has called me to brag that in eight hours she will be in Sacramento at the New Kids on the Block concert. Her husband, Lex, has agreed to go along because, well, he is confident in his masculinity and everyone will understand that he is just doing is husbandly duty. Here's a little background on this group and the Badouin girls. For both of us, it was our first concert in 1990. Bethany is my big sister, so of course whatever she thought was cool I did as well. We had every tape, the t-shirts, the dolls, the posters, the black hats that Jordan wore, and every Big Bopper magazine that they graced the cover of. We watched every New Kids cartoon on Saturday mornings, and my sister loyally wrote to them asking if they would come to her 13th birthday party. By the way, she did sit-ups religiously each night just knowing that soon she would meet them, and she needed to look her best. New Kids fizzled and they all went their separate ways, but last year they reunited to make a new album after 15 years and tour around the U.S. I tell my sis that I want to go and that it's not fair I can't be there. Bethany informs me that she had bought a four pack of tickets, so I should just zap myself up there and go with them. "Yeah right", I think, but then I start to plot how this could actually happen. My sweet sister-in-law works for Jet Blue and seems to make vacations happen, and both mom and dad are more than willing to give me their credit they had on Southwest which would expire soon if unused. My mom offers to be the nanny for the next couple of days and tells me to go for it. Could this miraculous event actually come to pass? One last obstacle to jump-convince the other half that this is a great idea and have him agree to let me jet off for a couple of days. Let's face it, the world crumbles for the little ones when mom's not around, especially for Corinne. This can be stressful when one is on daddy duty. As I cross my fingers and put a cute twang in my voice, he whole-heartedly tells me to have a great time. So, I rush to pack and scramble to make myself look like a cute New Kids fan. Lets face it, their fan base is a bunch of twenty to thirty something married moms; how hot am I expected to look? I got to the airport just in time, and my promises of candy and toys when I return is the only thing that keeps Corinne breathing. Coy just lets me know what kind of candy, exactly, he wants. Thank goodness Christian was still at school during this time, because if he knew I was going to visit his cousins without him, he would have thrown a fit. I enjoyed the first plane ride I have taken by myself since having children. Actually, this was my first trip alone in eight years. I had to just smile when I heard babies screaming on the plane. I looked at the moms with sympathy, but definitely with a sincere, "I'm glad that isn't me." I was even able to read during the flight. I forgot that was possible. Once Bethany and Lex arrived at the airport to pick me up I screamed out, "Hey Lex, are you ready to rock at the New Kids on the Block concert?" As people turned to look at him while he was blushing, my mission was accomplished. I told him not to be ashamed of his love for New Kids. The concert was great; I felt like a teeny bopper again, as did all the other grown women who had escaped life for one night to reunite with their former love. I saw lots of husbands with that, "I can't believe I let her drag me to this" look on their faces. So, by the time the night was over, Bethany, Lex, and I had been able to act like kids again. We got to relive a bit of the past. Thanks, sis, for the concert. It was the most fun I've had in a long time. I wish John could have been there. He would have loved it! We all know he was in junior high, up in his room, practicing the New Kids moves, hoping that one day he would be just like them. He still does the dances quite well. Maybe in 15 more years they'll have another reunion, and I'll be there dancing and singing, wrinkles and all.