when bella first shriekingly announced to the house (and zip code) that her public speaking hero, shane kyozcan, was making his first american tour (he resides in canada) i sat down with her to look at the dates and locations. i'm not sure what you call the tone parents get when they have to tell their kids that they can't get them something they'd like to get them but it just isn't practical. whatever the tone is called, that is how i sounded when i told bella, "bella, it's a west coast tour. the closest he gets to us is colorado. and that's on the weekend before you start high school. i'm sorry hon but i just don't think we can make it happen." amazing as always she said she understood and thanked me for looking into it.

truth is it is her understanding and ability to shoulder news that, to her world, is wildly devastating, which motivated me to figure it out. these are the sorts of behaviors parents see in their children that make them, the parents, want to break and mend the universe for their children, admittedly sometimes to the child's detriment. while marty and i are watchful of how much we try to bend natural laws for our children, we do occassionally succumb to our emotions. as you can see by the above photo, this was one of those times.

i snapped this seconds after shane koyzcan took the stage. i have some pictures of her crying but it was a big cry which means it wasn't a very pretty cry and i'm sure she would have had opinions about me putting those up. for what it's worth, she had an even uglier cry in march when i unveiled the kids' dad day plans and bella found these tickets in the legal sized envelope i handed her.

but for me, both were rewarding cries. it's not often you as a parent get to move your children, or anyone for that matter, to such degrees. this being the last weekend of summer, it made for a quintessentially perfect endcap to a an already rich and full summer. it also served as a nice kickoff to bella's high-school career.

we thought surely bella would have won the "travelled furthest" to see her public speaking hero but the woman from puerto rico took that honor. instead of getting soured we found that gesture (a birthday gift from her boyfriend) to make our weekend adventure all the more significant for those three days will forever hold a prominent and permanent place on our mind's cork board wall.

an overview of the three day campaign we embarked on to get bella sitting in this front row spot for her public speaking hero follows.

SUNDAY we relaxed and reveled in how awesome life in this country, at this time truly is (if given a moment's thought).

and on MONDAY bella began high school.

and holy dang did koyzcan put on a great show, a performance that evoked a standing ovation out of a crowd that for the other acts gave up warm but measured rounds of appreciation. in reflecting on it all, i would trade those twenty-four hours in the car for those ninety front-row minutes again without pause.