Thanks to my very cool and musically astute friend, Ryan, I had the chance to see one of my favorite bands, Wilco, last Thursday at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland. Lia was invited by some of her friends too, but they only had one extra ticket. When Ryan emailed me about his extra ticket, I jumped at the chance to go and it worked out perfectly. I saw Wilco there in the Summer of 2005 with my friends, Chris and Jason, which I thought was a great show, but that day was extremely hot and although we did have seats, we were literally in the last row and everyone in front of us was standing most of the time, so we couldn’t see much. We probably would have been better off sitting on the lawn. This time, however, the seats were ridiculous. They were center stage in the third row behind the pit, and I’m pretty sure I’ve never had better seats at a large venue concert like that. And Wilco sounded great. I don’t know if it’s because of where we were sitting or the fact that we were drinking Stella Artois by the bucket, but the energy was perfect and night was beautiful.

Seeing outdoor concerts with friends is one of my favorite things about summer. I feel as we finish out June and enter into the first days of July, we’re hitting that sweet spot of the summer where most of my pleasant childhood memories seem to have occurred and where I still have the most fun as an adult. This is the time when weekend BBQs are not a special event, but a matter of course. When one of the best feelings to me is a little bit of sunburn on my neck as I pop open the first cold beer of the evening and feel excited and happy without even knowing why. It’s the time when you experience those perfect nights: there’s a crackle in the air and you can stay up late and do anything you want because school is out for the summer. In a smaller sense, I equate this point in the summer to my view of weekends: Friday is great because you have the whole weekend in front of you, but you’re a little tired from work and probably getting a late start, so no huge plans. Saturday is perfect because you get to sleep in a bit and get started with a relaxing morning, but you can do whatever you want because you still have a whole day off after this one. This is the sweet spot of the weekend. Sunday is ok because it’s still the weekend, but you’re more restrained because tomorrow is a work or school day, so you can’t go too crazy. That’s how I think of summer – June, July, and August – they’re like the days of the weekend, and we’re just starting our Saturday morning.