The things we do for our kids
Good Morning,

Yesterday, the Mrs. and I took the little prince to see the stars of one of his favorite television shows from the Disney Channel, The DoodleBops. The show was in Beaumont, which is just over an hour and a half away. Yes, there was a Houston show, but when Mrs. OGV tried to buy tickets, the only ones available were nosebleed. Besides, to see the show in the Bayou City would have taken about an hour to get to the theater from our home, so the drive wasn’t that much of a difference. When that show had been virtually sold out, Mrs. OGV kept checking on the pending Beaumont date to jump on the best seats when they became available. We wound up having second row seats at center stage—not too shabby for the extra 30-minute drive.

When we got to the show, there was about 15 minutes before show time. Let me rephrase. That was after we got there and then spent a little while and several bucks in the line at the overpriced souvenir table. When we made it to our seats, she decided it was a great time to let Mr. Austin go to the bathroom, lest he decide in the middle of the show he had to go. The worst-case scenario would have been that he had to go during the show, but was having too much of a good time to notice and only told us when it was too late. Supermom wasn’t going to let that happen, so she took him for one last stop before the show.

In the restroom, she overheard some of the other moms talking. One of them had a bunch of souvenirs and commented, “Oh, the things we do for our kids.” Mrs. OGV thought to herself, “Tell me about it.” No, she wasn’t thinking about her efforts in trying to get the best tickets she could. She wasn’t thinking about driving that extra 30 minutes or so to get to this show. No, it was the extra effort we had made as a family.

The other women looked at her neon pink hair, sprayed to match the female singer Dee Dee Doodle. They then noticed Austin had orange hair like Moe Doodle, the break dancing drummer of the group. Being I was seated in our seat during the nature break, the women didn’t notice I had electric blue hair so I could complete our family group by having locks that matched Rooney, the guitarist of the bunch.

Yes, I agree-- the things we do for our kids.

We heard several comments about our hair from the moment we stepped out of our Trailblazer in the Civic Center parking lot. Kids thought we were pretty cool. One mom at the show asked the Mrs. where we got this done, believing we had gotten our hair sprayed at some booth there at the show. She said she wanted to get her son’s sprayed like this, but I guess she had to do without as we didn’t bring the washable hairspray with us. Even when the show was over, people were commenting about our hair. It was a total hoot.

However, the truly coolest acknowledgement came at the very end of the show. The group was about to “Get on the Bus” (a signature song of theirs and also how they left the stage) and were saying their farewells to their adoring, young fans. While Dee Dee was bidding adieu, she looked the Mrs. right in the eyes and spoke into her microphone for the entire audience to hear, “Nice hair,” then winked at Mrs. OGV and hopped on the bus.

When we got home and got settled in, we realized we had beaten the cold front to Houston. Whew! We didn’t want to get into the wicked storms that were forecast to lead that front into town. We also realized we still had our colored hair and each of us went to wash it out. I must admit I was surprised how easily it came out in one shampooing. We’re all back to our normal hair colors.

In the past, we’ve taken Austin to a few different shows including two Sesame Street Live shows and the Ringling Bros. Circus, but this was, by far, the most he’s enjoyed himself at any of these. He was so excited when the show began. He was grinning from ear to ear, anxiously kicking the front/bottom of his seat when the Bops came out on stage. He sang along with many of the songs. (Admission: So did I! That’s what I get for listening to the DoodleBops CD with Austin many times over the past several months.) Austin danced and waved at the performers when they were right in front of us. It was a total blast for him.

Toward the end of the show, the Mrs. asked me if I was enjoying the show. My answer was simple. “They’ve made my son very happy, so I’m really enjoying it.”

On the way out of the Civic Center, Austin was walking about a step ahead of us. They had DoodleBops tunes loudly playing the songs without the vocal tracks over the loudspeakers throughout the arena, and the exiting crowd was talking, combining to create a din that made it hard to hear my son when he spoke to me. But, when he turned and proudly said, “I loved this show!” I heard him loud and clear. That’s what I needed to hear. I don’t know if Austin could see the huge, warm smile that came across my face when he said that. Those four little words made all the extra effort worthwhile.

This was one of those days that we’ll always have as a memory for our family. Thanks DoodleBops.

OGV