Date With An Angel

August 9, 1999... Cameron Xavier Gallardo is born to my brother, Moe, and sister in law, Colette. Fast forward 11 years later to Cameron's 11th birthday. I hand him an orange envelope on his birthday, he opens it to find a ticket to the Rush concert at the Woodlands Pavillion on September 25th. He's ecstatic. Score! Coolest Tia Points go to...... Meeee!!! (for this year).

So, we get to the day of the concert. He's called me about three times, throughout the day to ask, "What time are we going???". I asked if he's excited and of course he says, "Yes", in that calm, deep tone he uses for any and every occasion. Cameron is a very monotone person. Getting any emotion out of him is like watching a glacier melt... you'll be there waiting and waiting and nothing. So, we're on our way. Moe is in a hurry to dump us off cause he's still got to go to my sister's house and drop off mom and baby and pick up my nephew, Seb, to take him and Caleb to the movies. He and Colette have a full day ahead of them.

We're at the Pavillion and as soon as we get off of the car, Cameron grabs my hand. We had to make a restroom stop before going on to the hill. So, Cameron goes and comes back to where I'm waiting. I ask him, "Should I go now or wait?" and he replies, "It WOULD be a good idea so we don't have to come back." So, I tell him to wait by the door and I go in. When I come out of the stall, he's standing INSIDE of the ladies' room. He said he wanted to wait inside for me. Haha. I think he was scared to wait outside by himself. We make our way up the hill to the top of the lawn. It's already dark and the show's already started. We make our way towards the front but there's literally no pocket anywhere in sight. The crowd is shoulder to shoulder. So, it's back up to the top for us. Everywhere we walk, Cameron always reaches for my hand. All of the awesome songs like, Freewill and Subdivisions are being played. I'm singing like a crazy woman and all he can do is stare at the stage and say, "Wow! This is way better than the Eagles" which I had taken him to for his birthday, 2 years prior. Cameron nudges me and says, "Look at the moon." and he points. "Doesn't that look awesome? Why does it look like there's a face staring at us? Look at how orange it is!". It did look pretty magical.

Right after Cammy turns to me and whispers, "I've never been in the middle of so many white people before", a young, guy next to my little Boo looks down at him and taps him on the shoulder and says, "Here you go, guy! Take a look through these!" and hands him a pair of binoculars. I thanked him and told him this was his first Rush concert. He looks over at his buddy and says, "This is his first Rush show." and his buddy says, "That's wussup!". So, now the wind starts to blow and he looks up at me and says, "Awesome! That breeze came just in time!". I asked if he was thirsty and he said he wouldn't mind a water. So, we're standing in line at the concession stand and a random drunk guy wobbles by us and puts his hand on Cameron's shoulder and yells, "You're totally at a Rush concert!" and keeps walking. Everyone around us looks right at Cammy and yells, "YEAAAAAAHHHH!!!". I don't know what all the attention he was getting was all about but he seemed to be enjoying it. So, the concession stand didn't take credit cards so, the vendor points me in the direction of the stand that DOES take cards. We go get in line and then notice, they only sell beer. So, as we go back to our spot, we hear the beginning of Tom Sawyer. "YEAAAAHHH!" and his hands up in the air is what comes out of Cameron. His eyes were huge as he stared at the stage and sang every word. That was the beginning of the entire "Moving Pictures" album. Later Cameron says, "Can we move? I keep smelling cigar smoke and it's starting to make me sick.". Little did he know that everywhere we were going to move to, that evening, there was going to be "cigar" smoke.

While they start playing their new stuff, I asked Cameron if he needed to go to the restroom or get a drink of water because he was already starting to look tired. He said yes so, we walk to the plaza behind the lawn area. I wait while he comes out of the restroom and we hear the beginning of the drum solo. I yell, "The drum solo! Your dad will kill us if he knows you missed it!". So, he runs and I tell him I'll catch up. When I get there, he's looking around for me. He's amazed at Neil Peart's rotating drum sets. He grabs my hand and looks up at me and smiles. I tell him, "You know you're witnessing one of the greatest drum solos by the best drummer EVER, right?" and he nods. When it's done, he claps. Again, he takes my hand and looks up and me and smiles but, this time he says, "I feel sorry for the Eagles. This is the greatest show ever". I feel a lump in my throat the size of an apple. Right before the show is about to end with "Working Man", Cameron looks up and says, "Look at that!" and I see a V of birds flying across the moon's light. He says, "I bet they're jamming, huh".

I don't know how many times throughout the night, my eyes welled up with tears and I felt my heart skip a beat. I don't know how many times it was, but I know that it was every single time he took my hand, looked up at me and smiled. People must have thought I was high because I know my eyes were red, all night. I've been to four Rush concerts in my life. I've been to several concerts at the Woodlands. I've been to concerts without drinking. I've taken Cameron to other concerts before. I don't know what it was about this evening. There was something almost magical about it. We didn't take one single picture due to my phone's camera freezing up but I didn't care. This is a night that I'll never forget. Somehow, I don't think Cameron will be forgetting it, either. I'm just thankful to God for this amazing night with my Angelface. If I was to die tomorrow, I'd have no regrets about my life and I would die with a smile on my face, knowing I lived to experience the greatest night of my 34 years.