Caught in the Middle

It was a little bittersweet watching them play the last show of their last tour for a while. Granted, the band had been going for thirteen years and they were all wanting to settle down soon, but I couldn't help but feel sad that within a couple of years, the band will have stopped touring altogether.

As much as I was going to be sad that the band was going to stop touring, I was happy that it meant I would be able to spend more time with my husband without having him disappear from me for weeks on end.

The band launched into "We'll All Be..." which was the last song of the set. The boys all looked at each other, smiling sadly as they played the last song, enjoying every moment of their time on stage.

Towards the end of the song, John called out a person from where I was standing side stage.

"I want you all to welcome a special guest on the stage for this last part," John said into his microphone, "I want you all to welcome Connor Nickelsen to the stage."

The toddler in my arms wriggled as he heard John say his name and Garrett behind him beckoning him out. I let him down and he ran as fast as his two-year-old legs would carry him onto the stage, running past where John had his arms out for him straight to his dad, who still had his bass guitar slung around his body as he picked Connor up with a wide smile.

Garrett looked back at me, pointing me out to Connor and they both waved to me. John looked over to me and motioned for me to join them on stage as well. I walked out onto the stage as John and the boys called the rest of their friends from the tour on stage, until it was full of musicians and band crew members.

I took Connor from Garrett's arms so he could continue to play. Connor reached out for his guitar and Garrett lifted it up so his chubby fingers could hit the strings. The smile on Garrett's face was as wide as mine as we watched our son play with the guitar. Garrett gave him a kiss on the head as he played out the last of the song.

Just before the last lines were to be sung, Garrett put his arm around my waist and lead me over to John, who put his arm around my shoulders. I looked at them both and smiled, feeling completely satisfied with how tonight had gone. I was going to miss being on tour with them like I did after I came back from Chicago, or hearing all the stories from their overseas tours and tours I couldn't go on, but I knew it meant that bigger things were going to come our way and I couldn't be more excited for my future with Garrett and Connor, as a family.

"We all have been degraded, we all will be the greatest."