It’s 6:00 p.m. on a Friday night in mid-March. You’re at your local grocery store with your two best friends, their aunt who is just as integral a part of the squad, and no budget in the candy aisle. You grab all of the Sour Patch Kids, Twix, and Kit Kats you can carry and head off to the car. The trunk is packed with overnight bags, the radio is absurdly loud, and the positive energy is off the charts. Â
You eventually find yourself on the highway at the start of a two-hour road trip to Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, for the weekend to see Florida Georgia Line in concert on their Dig Your Roots Tour. Think it can’t get better than that? Spoiler alert– it can.Â
We arrived in Connecticut that night a little after 8:00 p.m. We were staying at the Foxwoods Resort hotel just down the road from Mohegan Sun. We dropped off our bags in the room and proceeded to go grab dinner and explore the shopping area for the rest of the night. Â
The next morning, the four of us were awake bright and early with excitement even though the concert wasn’t until 7:00 p.m. We spent the day doing more shopping, eating brunch, and swimming in the hotel’s indoor pool and hot tub even though it was barely 20 degrees and snowy outside. Â
When it finally came time for the concert, my friends and I couldn’t contain our happiness. This weekend had already been a dream– a perfect break from the chaos of sophomore and junior year of high school. Now we were set to go see an incredible lineup of our favorite country artists in Ryan Follese, Chris Lane, Dustin Lynch, and Florida Georgia Line. Â
We adorned ourselves in camo and cowboy boots and made our way to Mohegan. Upon arrival, we were all set with our tickets in the top section 107. That was until my friends’ aunt said what proved to be quite the magic words, “Imagine if we got upgraded. I should ask if they have any extra tickets.” Â
My friends and I laughed it off. We could dream of getting upgraded somehow, but it would never actually happen. Â
Turns out manifestation can be pretty powerful. As we were walking to our seats, their aunt spotted a woman holding a plastic bag who was standing at the entrance to one of the arena sections. We all walked up to her and asked if she worked there, to which she responded that she did. Â
“What are the chances you have any ticket upgrades?”Â
“Oh yeah sure! I have section 2, the pit…what were you guys looking for?” Â
I heard the sentence, my friends and I looked at each other to make sure it was real, (it was) but nothing was registering. She reached in her handy plastic bag to pull out four pit tickets that she casually handed out to us, then directed us down an escalator to the pit entrance. Â
The next 10 minutes were a blur. We RAN down that escalator and made it into the pit line, screaming “WHAT JUST HAPPENED?” every two seconds to each other. It was such an insane, random occurrence that my friends and I were literally convinced their aunt planned it somehow. Just as shocked and ecstatic as we were, she promised us that it was pure coincidence. Â
Walking up to the barricade of the stage was truly surreal. It was the closest I have ever been at a concert, and the fact that it was in the middle of this whirlwind of a weekend with my best friends made it even more special. Â
That night I held Chris Lane’s hand, waved to and made plenty of eye contact with Dustin Lynch, and got the most unreal photos of Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley that still feel fake when I look at them. I cried and screamed the words to every song, took enough videos to last me a couple lifetimes, and overall had the most amazing night. Â
It’s a memory that makes no sense, but one I feel insanely grateful I have to tell. It’s been over five years since March 11, 2017, yet somehow it feels like yesterday. That kind of joy isn’t something that fades with time.  Â