Day 37

Celebrate me Home by Kenny Loggins

I’m blessed enough to recall a perfect family day.

My parents have been divorced for as long as I can remember. I don’t necessarily know what it’s like to see them civil in the same room. My senior day of high school in football season, before we could even walk down the 50 yard line a fight just had to break out.

Nonetheless, I have a beautiful family. Three brothers, one sister, a step mom, mom, and dad. I have a concoction of a family, and that in itself is a blessing. It’s even more special to recall the times we have together now that we’re old and grown.

With a big family it’s sort of like saying you’re going to do a bunch of things without doing them. However, one day, the plans made it out of the group chat – our family was going to a Kenny Loggins concert.

There’s a spot here in the ‘burbs of Chicago called Ravinia. It’s a beautiful pavilion picnic set up. We laid our blankets down in a sea of Loggins fans. We were excited – my dad was beaming. My brother even bought him a “I changed my passwords to Kenny. Now all I have are Kenny Loggins” shirt.

My dad never listened to much music with me in the car. I almost felt uncomfortable trying to play anything I liked. We would always default to his AM radio checking for oncoming traffic on the highway or 780 bears radio on the way to games. But one thing was for certain – he loved some Loggins.

We all enjoyed listening to music amongst each other. I more so enjoyed the company I was in.

Remember when Andy said “I wish there was a way to know you’re in the good old days before you’ve actually left them”? That quote has stuck with me ever since I was little. It’s almost a blessing and a curse – sometimes I find myself fully absorbed in the moment, others I step back and realize this is all fleeting. Cynical I know.

As he played this song, I put laid flat on my back, looked at the stars and soaked it all in. I thought about just how lucky I was to be with my family that day. Everything we had went through together.

Before packing up, “footloose” came on. We headed over to the GA section and all danced like the white unseasoned pieces of chicken we are without a care in the world.

Our parents drove back – the siblings opted to take the trail with Kenny celebrating us all the way home.