Anyone who knows me knows that I am a HUGE Daughtry fan. (And I’m sure I just made all of my friends roll their eyes and say, ‘Oh boy…here she goes again!’) But just hang on for a minute and you’ll see where I’m going with this! Patience please, my friends!

I recently attended a Daughtry concert on Mother’s Day in Minneapolis. Yes, Mother’s Day. I know, I know…some of you are probably appalled that I could leave my 4 children at home all day with their father on MOTHER’S Day of all days. But we moms deserve a break once in awhile, right? And what better day to celebrate all the hard work that we do all year long than on Mother’s Day, right?!? It’s a day for us! Anyway…now that I have tried to justify that to myself, let me continue….

I was surrounded by hundreds of other women at this concert, (many of whom were mothers like me). We were singing, dancing, and celebrating a few hours free of obligations. Free of whining. Free of complaining. Free of ‘I need this,’ or ‘I want that.’ Freedom. Woo-hoo!

Now, I have been to many-a-Daughtry-concerts over the past 5 years. Each one is special and memorable in its own way. Each one has something that ‘stands out’ and makes it different from the one before it. This Mother’s Day concert was no exception. This time it wasn’t the killer-bass solo by Josh Paul that made it memorable to me, (which was still amazing like always, of course!). This time, it was something completely unexpected and UN-MUSIC related. Imagine that.

During Daughtry’s performance of their hit song, “September,” a montage of photos of each of the band member’s wives and kids was played on a screen behind them. I noticed that Josh Steely, guitarist, was not facing the crowd, but instead, he had turned around so that he could watch the slideshow. And at one moment during the song, I saw him reach up, wave to the pictures of his wife and kids, smile a great big smile, and blow them a kiss.

I have never cried at a Daughtry concert before, but I could feel the tears start to well up in my eyes at that point. It was one of those moments that make you just stop and think. I thought about just how REAL all of these band members are…with real lives and real emotions. We tend to put them up on a pedestal because of their rock-star status. But they are still real dads and real husbands with the same real emotions that we all have. We sometimes tend to see only the glitz & glamour—the cool tattoos, the snazzy red pants, the fancy guitars, and the countless nights out on the town while on tour. But behind it all, they are like lots of other husbands and fathers who are out there just trying to make a living to support their families back home. And it is hard for them to be away from their loved ones.

I also started thinking about all the other fathers and mothers in the world who need to travel for their careers and be away from their families in order to make a living, (military parents, etc.). It is not always something they choose to do…but something that has to be done. My husband travels a lot for his career, too. I tend to complain a lot about having to hold down the fort by myself for the week with 4 kids. But it’s oftentimes only a week at a time. I don’t often realize just how lucky I am that it’s ONLY a week, even if it’s multiple times a year. I applaud the mothers who do it for months at a time. (You are superheroes!!) And I also tend to forget how it’s just as hard on my husband as it is on me. But after watching the emotions on Josh Steely’s face that night of the concert, I’m beginning to look at things from the other side of the fence. From a different perspective. It’s not easy for them, either.

So, I’d like to of course thank Daughtry for yet another magnificent concert…but this time, I’d also like to personally thank Josh Steely for keeping it real. I started out Mother’s Day 2012 celebrating my ‘day of freedom from obligations’ at home…but I returned that night feeling so incredibly thankful to have those obligations and to be home on a daily basis to fulfill them.