07.16.07
Summer Vacation – Day 1 (part 1)
God is awesome! Several times during our vacation we felt that God’s hand was with us. We had planned to go to Wisconsin on vacation, but when those plans fell through, it opened up other possibilites, such as going to a three-day music festival. I have often talked to the kids about going to one because their dad and I use to go to them all the time. It was job-related, but what a great perk! When you just need a little break and want to be around others who love Jesus as much as you do, it was a wonderful retreat.
I convinced the kids to go with me to Sonshine Fest in Minnesota. We left Thursday morning and arrived in Willmar, Minnesota around 3pm CT. There were soooo many tents and RV’s!!! We were a little overwhelmed at first, but the people who were directing where so kind and patient. They explained everything they could and basically told me to just find an open spot and put up our tent. We drove around for about 10 minutes and finally found a place that was large enough for our tent and our van. It was quite a walk to the main stage, but it was a nice, quiet spot. It had it’s advantages and disadvantages.
Since the bands actually started at 10am, I was a little bummed out that we had gotten there so late in the day, but as it turned out, the bands we wanted to hear didn’t start until 5:30pm. So were had just enough time to set up camp, get our bearings, buy tickets and walk to the main stage.
On the way there, we walked by stage two and we immediately recognized the song. It was Sanctus Real. A group that our whole family likes, so we stopped and listened to them. They sounded great. We continued on to the main stage as soon as they were done.
The next band we heard was Skillet. I love their music, but have now decided that I don’t ever want to attend one of their concerts again. I was very well aware of the fact that teens and young adults like to “mosh” and I was also aware of the fact that this was the kind of group that encouraged “moshing”, but I thought we were standing far enough away from the front of the stage that we would be safe. Wrong! As soon as the music started, the crowd surfing started too. What is crowd surfing you ask? It’s where a very adventurous person is hoisted up by friends over their heads and passed to the strangers next to them and so on. So while this person is putting their faith in the crowd, there are people in the crowd that don’t want to participate in such antics. And I don’t mean just me. As I watched some of the teen girls standing around me, they were covering their heads trying to keep from being kicked in the head and occasionally squealing out of fear and a little bit of excitement. Then there was the bouncing. My toes were stepped on so many times I lost count and twice I had to push others away to keep from losing my 11 year old son under their feet. But aside from all this, the one thing I couldn’t understand about the behavior I witnessed was the constant pushing of people to get closer to the stage. We were already standing shoulder to shoulder, yet these kids managed to push people apart and squeeze through, which of course, made us have to step back. I felt like we had been standing in the same spot for quite a long to time to see Skillet. We had earned the right to stand right where we were. It was selfish of those people to push through just because they didn’t get there as soon as others so they had to be aggresive and push people around to get what they felt they deserved, just because they wanted it. Is this a Christian attitude?
I’m sure that our generation did things that our parents shook their heads in amazement at because of our stupidity, but I can’t think of any at the moment…nothing that would compare anyway. What good does it do to bounce your body off of another with all your might, only to be brought to the sudden realization that gravity will take control and pull you to the hard ground? And then, because there was no grass underneath them, it stirred up dirt and dust, which of course, went right back into the crowd’s eyes and noses. I can’t imagine what it was like to try to sing up on stage!
Because the crowd was so aggresive, I decided to keep my camera put away and close to me until I had a chance to get further back.
The next group was David Crowder. While they were switching things around on stage, the crowd thinned out considerably so I sat down on the ground and took out my camera. I set it up, made sure there was enough film, put my zoom lens on and then handed it to Hall to take the first picture. He focused in on the stage and then pulled the camera away from his face. He looked at me a little confused, but held the camera up once more. A second or two later, he’s looking the camera over like he couldn’t remember where the buttons were. I asked him if something was wrong and he said, “I don’t know”. He handed the camera to me and after looking at it for about 15 seconds, I knew what was wrong. I slight panic went through my body as I quickly realized that I couldn’t fix the problem. The batteries had died and I hadn’t taken the advice of my first photography intructer…never be without plenty of film and fresh batteries. I seriously wanted to cry at that point, but knowing my kids would think I had lost my mind, I just sat. And as I was practicing my soothing deep breaths, I realized that all wasn’t lost. I may not be able to get picture tonight, but tomorrow would be a new day! I was sure there would be some place in town that sold camera batteries.
The David Crowder Band is one of Hall’s favorites, so I’m quite familiar with their music. It’s not the type of music I would think kids would feel the need to “mosh” to. But again, I was so wrong. Fortunately, this time I was prepared. I had backed up even further and Gabrielle and Wilson stayed with me. Hall, on the other hand, wanted to get in with the crowd. He’s over 6 feet tall, so he didn’t have to worry about getting kicked quite as much and he loved the bouncing. So he went in…and his younger brother wanted to follow. I was more worried about him, so I said no. Wow. Lost major mom points there. During this time, I thought it would be a good idea to take my camera back to the camp site, so I left Wilson with Gabrielle and trudged through the crowds. It took me 30 minutes to get to our tent and get back to the stage. By this time it was getting dark and it was difficult to tell where the kids were, so I stood in the general vicinity until the band was done and people started clearing out.
