"You're in control is there anywhere you want to go" Wait.. not you guys!

So the other night was an event Big Papi and I had been looking forward to for months. Coldplay was in town and we had lawn tickets.

Now for those who are unaware, the Virginia Beach Verizon Amphitheatre is a great venue for seeing concerts. Big Papi and I, before our adventures in parent land, saw Coldplay there and they were AMAZING! What a fan based show. If you love Coldplay you should so see them live, seriously a great show.

Because of my devotion to Coldplay we purchased tickets the minute they became available on the lawn- which is a large grassy hill with first come first serve seating. A few weeks ago the Amphitheatre announced that they would be offering discounted tickets to some of their upcoming shows. The Fray, another favorite in the Alien/Caveman household, was part of that group- but they had Pit tickets right in front of the stage on sale- so I got two for Big Papi’s father’s day gift. Then, because curiosity got the better of me I thought why not look at the Coldplay tickets and see if there happened to be better tickets on sale.

YES! Seriously could not believe my eyes when I saw that I could get Pit tickets for Coldplay for less than $30 dollars each! Immediately I place my ticket order, and sure enough received two emails confirming ticket purchases.

Now what to do with the extra Coldplay tickets?

I decided to give them to friends of ours, Dr. Richie who is the world’s best vet, and the Bugg.

So the night of the show the kids are at a babysitter’s house and Big Papi and I head to will call to pick up our Pit tickets. First, the lady at the will call office does not have our tickets. Then the lady checks my last name and sees that yes we purchased Coldplay tickets. She prints out said tickets but they say “LAWN.” I am beginning to get upset. I say, “I paid for Pit tickets! Where are my Pit tickets, I know I have lawn tickets but I also bought Pit tickets!” The lady gets her manager, who proceeds to tell me that the Amphitheatre has not had Pit tickets for Coldplay for almost a month. I explain “well your website let me buy Pit tickets when y’all did the sale!” The lady said she would love to see the email, which of course my dumb butt didn’t think to print out. So there we were with lawn tickets, no pit tickets and oh yeah the Bugg and Dr. Richie are on their way!

I call my credit card company who ensure me that yes I did in fact make two purchases for tickets. Okay, so at this point I am upset because I might not be able to see my most favorite band on the planet because of a missing email! I convince Big Papi to drive across the street, losing our great parking space, so that I can check my email at the TCC’s library. Sure enough I did not purchase two Coldplay tickets but four Fray tickets.

I am in tears at this point, thinking that I am going to have to give up my tickets all together. Big Papi says no we are seeing this concert! So we get back into traffic and get into an argument because since I was the one to make such a huge mistake that we should buy new tickets and let the Bugg and Dr. Richie use ours. Big Papi does not like this, and tries to convince Dr. Richie of it but Dr. Richie was right that they were our guests and we should buy tickets. So Big Papi agrees finally and we head to meet them at the front gate.

As we are heading up they call us and say that why don’t we just see the show. They are going to another friend’s house to smoke cigars and drink beer.

At this point I am so ashamed of my mistake and also mad that Big Papi didn’t immediately say “look our bad we’ll get new tickets.” So when we get up to the ticket gate I see the Bugg and Dr. Richie off to the side and I want to go over and say I’m sorry, but I just couldn’t face them. You see these two guys are great; every person should be lucky enough to have friends like these. Here I am screwing it up over money basically and the fact that I did not make sure that I had the correct information.

The show was great, in fact Coldplay actually did a set on a stage in the lawn which I have never seen done. Yet, the whole time I felt horrible, especially during the song “Fix You” where the song starts:

When you try your best, but you don't succeed

When you get what you want, but not what you need

When you feel so tired, but you can't sleep

Stuck in reverse

And the tears come streaming down your face

When you lose something you can't replace

When you love someone, but it goes to waste

Could it be worse?

Seriously at that moment I couldn’t stand the way I behaved that I once again let my emotions get the better of me. After the show we called the boys, and they sounded like they were having a fine time. Dr. Richie even told me a story about how he messed up an online purchase recently and that it could happen to anyone. I did offer Dr. Richie the other pair of Fray tickets since I originally gave him the pair of tickets, which he gladly accepted. Then he said something that amazed me and showed me why I want to be his friend in the first place. He said, “I was just honored that you would give me the tickets in the first place. That was really cool, thanks.”

After I wasted his time he said thanks to me. I have never been so humbled.

Now I am trying to convince the Bugg to let me buy him a ticket to the Fray if he also wants to come. He hasn’t called back yet, though I did talk to him the morning after. My hurting him is worse because for the last six months he has been one of my biggest supporters in dealing with the decision to attend UVA. If I call he is there- and not just because he is my pastor but because he is my friend. And I think I blew it. It just sucks to let down friends. I just don’t know how to say to the Bugg and Dr Richie “and I will try to fix you.”