Many of you know what a fan I am of James Taylor. He was one of my mother’s favorites and I grew up listening to his records (that’s right, records!) and singing along. When our son was born, his unofficial theme song was Sweet Baby James, and he is still known as SBJ in some circles (you know who you are). However, of all the concerts I have been to in my life, and there are many, I had never seen him perform. I am a fan on Facebook and they posted a note about James coming to SLC to do a special concert with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Utah Symphony. The tickets were free but you had to win them in a lottery. I never win anything. Seriously, I am hugely unlucky. However, you can’t win if you don’t enter, so I did. AND I WON!!!!!
The tickets are sent to you in the mail and they assign your seats. When we arrived and were making our way to our seats, we just kept getting closer and closer to the stage. I couldn’t believe it! Not only did I win free tickets to an unbelievable concert, but our seats were amazing. We were maybe 24 rows from the stage in a huge auditorium. I almost cried with joy. Almost. Actual tears came later.
It was a great concert and James is so wonderful live. Chris and I were a little disappointed that Sweet Baby James was not on the program, but we were so grateful to be there that we focused on that. Then, he played it as an encore and I felt like all the stars aligned in that moment to make me so crazy happy. I cried like a baby. Because I’m a sap and I miss my mom and wish she knew my little James.
On the plus side, after climbing a mountain and seeing James Taylor live, I’m going to have to add some new adventures to my bucket list. They’re getting checked off pretty quickly for someone who’s only 34!

iPhone selfie before the concert. I toned down the giant grin I had been wearing.

Pretty sure I’m thinking, “I can’t believe I’m here!”

OMG it’s James Taylor! I swear it is, even though this pic is terrible. It really is!