I Never Want This Night to End

It's not often that we have this time.  The night sky is an open swath and though the stars are dim, It's enough that they are there.  My husband's touch is light upon my back and for right now, I can believe that this small group of us shines brighter than any of us have on our own in years.

The occasion seems insignificant, really. But so much goes into a night out, that it means more than it should.  Around us, people who are not my people chant and sing and drink tall boys.  There are more cowboy hats and daisy dukes than I would normally be comfortable with and though I have professed again and again to dislike country music as a matter of course (I am a Northeastern liberal after all), I am clearly participating joyfully, singing even, with all of these fans at a Zach Brown Band concert.  I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

As we all do, in this age of wearable technology, I often find it difficult to turn everything off, including and especially my insatiable mind, and yet for 3 hours, from the moment we get our tickets scanned to the last song, I am here.  Present on the lawn of this vast arena, surrounded by what I can only imagine are mostly ironic cowboys in brand new garb bought just for the occasion, and I am here and now in a way I have not been in so very long.

My beautiful friend dances, curls flying, unapologetically drunk on the night (and on copious amounts of vodka) and screams at the top of her lungs, "I never want this night to end!"  I am laughing and clapping and in response to her wish, I let out what can only be described as a war whoop. At this moment I am ageless and childless and this is every summer concert I have danced my way through.  There is nothing other than this night.
I so believe in this night's power that I am caught off guard as my husband rolls up our blanket.  Even as we join the mass exodus to the stairs, surrounded by chants of USA, USA, I am taken aback by his questions about how much we owe the sitter and about whether we need to stop for more cash on our way home.  The crash to Earth seems sudden and cruel.  But looking around, I see we are separated from our friends, our people, and I am being crushed by fake cowboys and sorority girls.  I sigh and check my phone and start thinking about tomorrow as I put this night behind me.