Say Yes to Fun

“Work, you damn computer!” Katherine pounded on the keys of her laptop in frustration. 

It was a year Katherine thought she would never see.  In one year the pyramid of her life tumbled one block at a time.  A twenty-year marriage, a cheating husband, a failed business she loved and now the last straw, a frozen computer. After two hours of hearing press number two for technical support, a simple solution was finally offered – press control, alt, and delete to reboot. 

After the successful resurrection of her computer, Katherine thought she needed a break. An hour soaking in a bubble bath with soothing eucalyptus candles, one Netflix movie, one quart of Cookie Dough ice cream, and a half bottle of wine later, Katherine emerged with renewed purpose. Like a baptismal dunking, she could wash away her old life and start anew. She needed a complete reboot. 

Step one, Alt. Step one of her new spirit must be to seek an alternate reality, Katherine thought.  Say yes to Fun. 

Katherine believed she had always been a fun-loving person, but in recent days the chasm of her abysmal life made fun and laughter impossible.  Now that she decided to accept and even seek out fun, she used her now-operational computer to Google, the most fun things to do.  Right there was an article from Women’s Day magazine entitled 43 Fun Things to Do in Your Lifetime.  Quickly copied all 43 items down and vowed to achieve them all in this year.  The year of no fear!

First on the list…Go to a concert! Katherine remembered all the concerts she attended in her teens and twenties. As shown by the many solo concerts held for an audience of one in her car and shower, Katherine loved music.  What’s not to love?  Screaming and singing at the top of your lungs with hundreds or thousands of others doing the same thing. Music filling your heart and ears to near deafening levels. Dressing like a rock star, roadie or groupie with the secret and likely unrequited ambition of being pulled up onstage to sing and party with the band. Yes, a roaring rock concert was the answer.

An online search later, Katherine found her favorite teenage band was appearing a mere three hours away that very weekend and still had tickets available.  Click and buy.

After an urgent text plea to her two girlfriends, announcing a girl’s night road trip, Katherine was ready to go.

Dressed in a black tank top with mesh wrap shirt, black jeans and as much silver jewelry with chains, rings, big hoop earrings, silver looped belt, black heeled leather boots and dark eyeliner, Katherine was ready to see Kiss. She considered full cat makeup, but decided that would be over the top.

She and her friends stood in line with baited anticipation. As she looked around, she saw many people of different ages and many more dressed as they were going to a picnic in khaki shorts, t-shirts, ball caps and white sneakers, instead of a Kiss rock concert. She saw very few people dressed up in Kiss makeup (glad she didn’t do that), but gratefully saw a few people similarly dressed for a head-banging concert. Upon reaching the front of the line, the attendant asked Katherine to remove her jewelry as it would set off the metal detector.  Confused and in disbelief, Katherine peeled off her metal armory as if she was peeling layers from herself and then quickly passed through the checkpoint and relayered.

An endless beer line later, they found their seats just in time for the lights to fade.  A singular bass note sounded, red and gold streaks of light climbing up the stage background screen, then an echoing guitar chord and synthesized sound revealed a huge light-exploding firework sign with the letters K-I-S-S. Then the music began and the band emerged to the roaring and raucous sounds of the crowd of fans.

Katherine smiled and looked around at her friends and surrounding strangers with their hands in the air bopping to the beat of the music and singing gleefully at the top of their lungs.   

“This is fun!” She raised her fist in the air, jumped up and down and sang loudly. “I want to Rock and Roll all night, and party every day.” Her new mantra.