Summer of 2016 I drove my 13-year old daughter 3+ hours for her first concert – to see Chris Cornell at Adler Theater in Davenport, Iowa. We did not have tickets, and stood outside hoping for someone to have a pair of tickets for us to buy. An hour went past and no tickets were to be found. A few minutes before show time we got discouraged and were prepared to give up, when suddenly a man approached and asked if we needed tickets. We said yes, and he handed us a pair and only wanted face value. We practically sprinted into the theater, and as we scanned the rows for our seats we were shocked to discover we were sitting in the 4th row right in front of center stage. I watched Chris play his heart out, but also watched my beautiful daughter sing and smile for over 2 hours. Soundgarden is her (and my) favorite band, but she also loves Audioslave and Chris’s solo work. Her feet barely touched the ground as we walked to our car after the show, and she talked nonstop about the songs he sang and the words he said until we got home after 2am. She wore the concert tshirt we bought for her that night to the first day of school in August.

We were thrilled to be able to see Soundgarden together in Kansas City on May 14, just a few days before he passed away. I am so glad I was able to share that with her. It’s something we still talk about and will never forget.