The Ben Folds Experience

Thai Margarita - yes please!

On Friday, the last day of school, I hightailed it out of the building just minutes after the kids left for the last time. It was date night! Many months prior, Matt had purchased tickets to a much-anticipated event, Ben Folds performing with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. I love Ben Folds, I have always wanted to go to the symphony, we were celebrating our ninth anniversary, it was the last day of school... a perfect combination.

I knew our seats were going to be decent. We showed up, presented our tickets to the usher, and were told to go down to the fourth door on the left. As we walk down the hallway towards the stage, I quickly realized that the fourth doorway was the last doorway, the closest doorway to the front of the concert hall. Let me tell you, these seats were good. Good enough to see the adorably geeked out expression on Ben Fold's face, close enough to watch the string players' fingers fly over their instruments. It changed the whole experience and was totally worth it to sit so close to the action.

Nine years of wedding bliss with this guy.

Why, hello Ben!

So I have to say, I'm a symphony fan! Of course, it helps that they were playing all my favorite Ben Folds songs. But that didn't detract from the magic that was happening. It's amazing to close your eyes and listen to something that most of us take for granted - all the different instruments blending so seamlessly into music we're all familiar with - and then open your eyes and realize it's the result of all these individuals working together, each contributing their own part that separately might not make much sense but once combined, becomes a beautiful, living creation.

And then Ben had us all sing along. So fun, so memorable. Such a great way to kick off summer.

At one point, he started conducting the audience.