Josh Groban

"Karissa, it's for you. It's Dustin." My mother handed  me the house phone causing me to sit straight up in bed, once sound asleep now very wide awake. Confused, excited, unsure and every other emotion, I cleared my throat doing my best to disguise the grogginess in my voice.

"Hello"

"Hi, it's Dustin"

"Yeah". Nice Karissa, real clever.

"Did I wake you up?"

"Oh no. No." I so just lied!

"Are you sure?"

"Yep, I'm up." Barely. Does God forgive a little lie when you're trying to impress someone? Okay, okay, I know He doesn't.



"Well, hey I got two tickets to a Josh Groban concert and I wanted to go with someone who I know likes Josh Groban and would appreciate it. I know you like him and wanted to know if you'd like to go with me. It's not a date, we'd just be going as friends."

At this point I have experienced excitement about a Josh Groban concert, elation at being asked to go by Dustin and disappointment at being told it's not a date. But hey, Josh Groban with a cute boy I really liked, who cared whether it was a date or not! I had to work that night but I would pay someone to cover for me, I was not missing this. I let Dustin know, he again said it wasn't a date so if I couldn't don't stress, blah, blah. I made it happen even though the only person who could switch with me was a boy crazy teenager who totally blew my "date that wasn't a date" out of proportion.

The evening before the concert I spent sitting in his family's family room with his father while he got ready. Just slightly backwards but hey, it worked for us. We had an absolute blast that night. The concert was the best concert I had ever been to for many reasons. We ended the night with a meal at a diner before he took me to his sister's house where I was to spend the night. It wasn't a date but it sure felt like one, there were major butterflies going on. And I found out he didn't like anyone currently...or at least that's what he said. I had a slight chance!

Josh Groban "Awake" Tour - August 3, 2007

In all reality though, I actually had a very great chance because Dustin did currently like someone. He liked me and the non-date was, unbeknownst to me, very much a date. It's hard to believe but that all occurred six years ago. Little did either of us know that the silly little "date that wasn't a date" would cause 4 1/2 wonderful years of marriage and a beautiful baby boy.

It was for this reason that when we heard Josh Groban would be in the area we wanted to go. I was a little uncertain about leaving my newborn baby but my mom promised to take good care of him. And considering she had six babies and all I figured he would probably be okay. :-) Plus, they also promised to send me lots of texts and my constant checking in insured this.

Josh Groban "In The Round" Tour - November 2, 2013 (Really bad phone photo but the only one we got.)

We drove four hours away to where the concert was being held. After parking we walked to a nearby restaurant for dinner. It was rainy and cold so we took our time just enjoying the time together with just the two of us. Finally we were able to go to the arena and after waiting for a short while the concert began. It was awesome and just as good as our first concert for all the same reasons. We had a blast and though we missed Everett, we really enjoyed our time away together. Maybe in another six years we'll be able to see Josh Groban again!