Operation Get Mom Out of the House

Since my mother's heart attack 18 months ago, I made it my personal mission to get her out and about. Of course she's been doing a lot of the work on her own; rejoining the synagogue she attended as a child (Beth El in Alexandria), going to Jazzercise classes three times a week, but I still it as something of my responsibility to see that she goes out and has fun.

So this last Saturday I dragged her to The Birchmere in Alexandria to see 1964, a Beatles tribute band. I figured this would be right up her ally, I knew she loved the music (she introduced me to The Beatles when I was 14 when The Beatles Anthology aired on ABC), and the Birchmere is a small enough venue that she wouldn't feel overwhelmed. I'm not sure how much she was looking forward to it, but it was a lovely night and as we walked into the Birchmere she had memories of standing in line for tickets there for a show about 30 years previously.

We got there an hour early, but apparently it wasn't early enough, since we got stuck at a small table in the very back in the room. We still had a great view though, and it really just meant that if we wanted to get up and dance (which we did) it didn't bother anybody else.

I had a great time, and the best part was, Mom did too! She mentioned that she hadn't been to a concert with an actual rock band for maybe 20 years, and I can't remember the last time I saw her dance, whoop, and clap her hands like that. She couldn't stop raving about the concert afterwards, and she sang along to every song. In fact she pretty much schooled me on rocking out.

Here we are at the show:


And here's a blurry photo of the band: