I am fortunate to get to see my son Kevin and his family (think grandkids) a few times a week.  Yet, I miss Andrea and Philip and had not seen them since Andrea’s college graduation in early May.

Normally, visiting my children would be as simple as seizing a long weekend and driving 350 miles.  However, my aging Subaru with an odometer reading 340,000 already had its annual towing in June and has been showing signs of warning. I feel more than a bit iffy about heading out of town knowing I might have to call family to rescue me. Things are remote and rocky between Glenwood Springs and Vail or Breckenridge.

I heard they might come through town in early September, but that was at the behest of another and I had no assurance I would see much of them. So, as I said, I was missing my younger two and pretty much beating my fists on heaven’s door in my insistence, “show me a way to get to see my children.”

Meanwhile, Kevin contracted to film Rock Jam and began putting together a crew of a dozen or so.  Now, it happens that my three kids are amazingly talented and successful and all have experience and training at varying levels of videography, not to mention various genres of rock music.

Kevin called his siblings and recruited them.  At first, they declined.  Kevin persisted.  Together we negotiated a way to hurdle the issue of gasoline for a guzzling band van.  Within 24 hours, my two younger children were camping out under my roof, chatting, making music, hiking the beautiful desert trails in my neighborhood, and prepping with older brother for a 72 hour photo and video shoot.

They worked hard.  They shot a lot of footage and made friends and memories.

And me?  I was feeling like the most blessed mother in the world.  Mother’s Day and Christmas surprise all rolled into a few hot days in August. My kids are creative, talented and successful and I have come to expect amazing things from them; but this time Kevin exceeded my wildest dreams – he really pulled a coup.