My son goes to IU in Bloomington. For a Christmas present, he got us tix for the Tom Petty show in May at the Klipsch Amphitheater just north of Indianapolis. I drove down and met him at the hotel early so we could start pregaming for the show. We go to a bar nearby and have a beer, and then he announces that he wants to take me to his favorite bar in Indy that is over by the airport a half-hour drive away. I try to discourage this, why bother going so far? But he convinces me that it is important to him to share this place with me because it is meaningful to him. Of course, I said sure, I would love to see it. We hop in his car and he follows the signs for the airport, not unexpected since he warned me the bar was by the airport. But as he actually enters the airport and follows signs to arriving flights, I realize I have been duped. I tell him I suspect he may have been less-than-honest with me about our destination. In typical millennial fashion, he replies "Ya think?" We pull up to baggage claim and standing there is my best friend from high school, a very close friend for over 40 years now. My son bought the concert tickets and called my friend to invite him to join us. My friend was kind enough to fly up from Atlanta to hang out with us. Oh, one more thing, on the drive to the show my son pulls out three VIP tickets, which gave us lots of cool perks like a private bar and restrooms with no lines. He says those were his mom's contributions to the day.

I admit, I am a pretty gullible to fall for that story about a bar by the airport. I didn't realize I was getting taken until about a minute before I saw my friend. But the surprise aspect of it made it so much cooler than if I had known all along that my good friend was coming. He and my son have become good friends over the years, and they planned this behind my back. It was one hell of a night. Stayed up until 3 and my friend had to make an 8 am flight back to Atlanta. Ouch. Tom Petty and Joe Walsh both rocked the house. Best night I've had in a while.