as the opening act set up

As the opening act set up, we retired back to the dressing room to find Ryan’s family waiting for us.

Holy CRAP I felt old. Mara must have been 17 now, and Casey was about 13.

And they were still terribly in love with Derek.

They both screamed when he entered the room. He in turn yelled out, “Oh my gosh, it’s my girlfriends!”

He swept them up, one in each arm, and twirled them around like helicopter blades as they shrieked happily.

“Thanks for coming,” Ryan beamed at his parents as he bent down and kissed his mom on the cheek.

Mrs. Miller still looked pretty as always, and Mr. Miller looked tanned and handsome in his polo shirt and slacks.

“Thanks for the vacation, son,” Mr. Miller said happily, then leaned in and whispered, “You would not believe the mini-bar in the hotel.”

“Good – get anything you want. It’s all on me.”

Mrs. Miller fussed with Ryan’s hair. “Are you seriously going out in front of a thousand people with your hair like that?”

I wanted to tell her, More like TWENTY tho