Vertically Challenged.

Yes, I am aware that I am short. I like to joke that I am "vertically challenged." I never really think of being short as a disadvantage. In fact, I see being "fun sized" as a Pro, not a Con. I never have to duck to enter a door way or even to board a smaller airplane. Steve can always stand behind me in our bathroom, looking over my head and see perfectly fine in the mirror. I can wear the highest heels I want and never look freakishly tall. There are lots of great things about being short. I get to make other people look tall!

Except...
this weekend at 10KLF (10,000 Lakes Festival). My lack of height was a total downer. The first night of the festival I had no problem. We sat in lawn chairs and listened to Widespread Panic {amazing}. But on Saturday night for the headliner, the Dave Matthews Band, my view was limited to armpits and shoulder blades. Occasionally, Steve would boost me up (yup - he is strong enough to do that) so I could get a glimpse and sometimes the crowd would part in just the right way that I could see in between all the fans. But mostly, I just got huge crink in my neck from trying to see anything at all.
Don't let this photo fool you. This was not my view, this is Steve's view holding my camera over his head. My view was about 16 inches lower and involved the back of these colorful t-shirts. Ok - more like the waistband. Notice that we are in the "mosh-pit" about 50 feet away from the stage?

I should clarify that I am not a big concert fan. The last concert I went to (besides Abby's school concerts) was almost 20 years ago at NSU when I went to Rick Springfield (think Jessie's Girl). I was about 10 years old - ha! Concerts just aren't my deal. I don't like the when the musicians sound like cr@p and my ears ring for two days.
So, it was a big deal that I got the wild hair to go to the Dave Matthews Band when I read that they were the headliner for the 10KLF 5 months ago. I touched base with my good friend, Kelly, because I knew she really liked Dave Matthews, too. "Like" is an understatement, Kelly is really a super-fan and I am just a regular fan. Needless to say, Kelly was very excited to go and we got our husbands on-board, too.

Kelly (aka Dave Matthews groupie) and her hubby, David.

Me and my hubby.

And here is Dave. The whole reason for enduring the crowds of people and paying the high ticket prices. He. Is. Simply. Fabulous! Can't say enough about the amazing 2 1/2 hour show they put on. All the musicians were fantastic. The sound was superb. The energy of the crowd was great. Even though there were tons of people, the fans were surprisingly polite. When I got jostled, more times than not, someone apologized. Talk about Minnesota-Nice at its finest.

Don't get me wrong - there were some strange and unusual people at the festival. It was a great place to people-watch. I can definitely share more stories along that particular line, but this needs to stay PG. Moving on... Where was I? Oh yes, I am short...

Check out this picture my husband took of our group. Notice my forehead and eyes are the only thing visible? This just cracks me up because I am just too short to fit into the picture.

When Steve crouched down and tried again, then David's head is cut off. {big sigh} Guess fitting into group pictures can also be added to the list of disadvantages for being vertically challenged!