We are back from our spring break vacation and what a trip it was! As you know from the post below, we kicked off our trip with a Blue October concert Sunday, April 1 at Rams Head Live in Baltimore.
Lead singer Justin Furstenfeld opened the show with a solo set that was just fabulous!
I found this video of my favorite song from the set, "Freight Train of Pearl," but it's from a show in Myrtle Beach (skip to about 1:00 if you don't want to see Justin setting up the song...that's one of my favorite things about him though - his ability to make such awesome beats):
After Justin's set, we picked up a copy of his book "Crazy Making" which I've been wanting for forever! It's filled with lyrics from Blue October songs as well as notes about the meaning and thought process behind them.
After another opening act from Girl in a Coma, Blue October took the stage and did not disappoint! I was in Blue October heaven!
But, the highlight of the night for my husband and me came when we got to meet the band again after the show and have them sign our book.
We'd met them last October in Silver Spring...all except for Justin. This time, however, Justin came out and we? We died.
As per usual, every photo I ever take with a celebrity comes out horrible and you know you only get one shot! You can't very well be like, "Ummm...my face looks weird in this one. Can we do that again?" :)
My husband said he looked like a deer caught in the headlights, lol, and he never takes a bad picture! Oh well.
Here we are, in all of our bad-picture glory with the fabulous Justin Furstenfeld:
As I stated in my previous post, Matt can unfortunately relate to a lot of the music Justin wrote for "Any Man in America" and his songs have been very therapeutic for us during the most trying of times.
So being able to talk to Justin personally about what we've been through was even more healing. He had great words of wisdom and I am paraphrasing here, but he said something like:
"If you hate your ex, that's fine, but don't bring the kids into it. Stop the bitterness and the fighting. Take all the money you'd put into paying lawyers and battling things out in court and put it into a fund for your kids for college. Then, when they graduate, BAM! They're set!"
We couldn't agree more, but it's too late in our case and obviously in Justin's as well. We've wasted thousands and current/ongoing issues (which I am unable to discuss here) are going to potentially cost us thousands more.
But it's not too late for other families facing divorce and custody issues. That's why Justin created the Any Man in America (AMIA) website. Click here to visit and share it with those you may know who might be going through similar circumstances. If it helps even one child/parent, it's worth it!
I am grateful that my ex and I put our kids first and settled our divorce ourselves, without the need for lawyers. We work together on shared parenting, making sure each of us is involved in decision-making regarding the kids and always doing what is in their best interest. We would never even THINK of dragging our kids into our personal issues or degrading each other to them out of anger. And our kids are so much better for it.
It's my wish that ALL kids have the benefit of parents who care more about them than hurting their ex (which ultimately hurts the kids more than anyone). So I believe strongly in what Justin is doing for parents and kids all across America with his website.
And it makes meeting him in person that much more special to me!
