Our friend, Lauren has been a fan of 60's/70's musical icon Melanie since I turned her on to Melanie's music when Lauren was a middle school student of mine. So recently, when Lauren's mother, Helen, saw the Melanie was going to be performing at a venue in Bath, Maine, she got four tickets: For Lauren, Helen, me and my wife Sue.  The plans were made months ago, then came a plot twist.

Our 18 year college freshman, Rose, came home for the long Veterans Day weekend.  Sue, not really a Melanie fan ("She's too shrieky!") gladly gave her ticket to Rose who has been a fan of Melanie since 7th grade.  Rose, in fact, did her dance competition solo to Melanie's "Beautiful People" last year.  So all five of us met for dinner locally, then Sue went to play dominoes with a friend while Lauren and Helen followed Rose and me as we drove to Bath's Chocolate Church concert hall.

At first Rose was by far the youngest person there, followed by Lauren.  I guess that's to be expected when you go to a show by someone who hasn't been on the top 40 since 1973. Eventually a few other college age people arrived, and even a dad with his presumably middle school aged daughter.  But generation gap aside, Rose enjoyed every minute. One of the little blessings of the evening was watching Rose and Lauren interact as peers; Rose was a little kid when Lauren was in my class, but now one was just starting college while the other just graduated, and they interacted as friends.

Melanie came out and opened with "Beautiful People". I wiped away a tear as I remembered the three times Rose competed to that song last winter, to say nothing of the hours and hours working on it in the studio (and sometimes our kitchen).  The sheer joy on Rose's face warmed this fathers heart.  Rose was gushing during intermission. When the second set started, Melanie's son, Beau-Jarrod, opened with a guitar solo of the Stone's "Paint it Black". He's an amazing talent who accompanied his mom all night, playing guitar, violin, baritone recorder and hand drum.  

Then Melanie opened the concert up to requests. When she sang "Peace Will Come" I remembered the news of Sandy Hook shootings and how all I could do that day was play this song over and over.  Finally, they ended the show with her hit "Lay Down" medleyed with Lennon's  "Give Peace a Chance". It was a great evening, but it wasn't over. Melanie manned her own merch table, and we got to meet her. Rose bought a poster that was autographed, and we headed home.  

We loved the concert, but I loved the trip to and from Bath just as much, as Rose opened up about what God was doing in her life, dreams, friends and more.  She is now on her way back to college with memories of a very special weekend.