Tuesday, October 11, 2016

How I met Alicia



Dear Diary,

I can’t believe I survived and lived to tell the tale! But I did it! I met Alicia from Tammy and Alicia!!! She came up to me from the stage and… Ok, ok. I’m getting too far ahead of the story. Let me start from the beginning. So my older sisters, their friends and me were originally going to get there like before the arena opened up – we were planning on being there 4:30 in the morning. Oh yeah that meant camping out in front of the doors and everything!

With that said, we were on the interstate by 2:30 in the morning – northbound on the 10 doing 85, status, too excited to be sleepy (I couldn’t sleep the night before), time, 3:15 am. They usually do quick Q and As in between their sets and I was trying to come up with a question to ask them. Also when to give them my gift. (I painted them in watercolors). And that’s when it happened…the car started freaking out with smoke coming from the hood and all. We were midway between Scottsdale and Tucson – it was too early to call anyone. My plans and dreams were ruined!!! They were still 60 miles away!! An eleven-year-old can only take so much!! A state trooper came by – helped us get a tow truck, the car went into the shop, we were losing time and the day was ticking away!! We couldn’t call anyone in fear that parents would get worried and would want us back home and everyone was at school, and we were too broke to catch a bus the rest of the way. We pretty much had to wait it out until one of my sister’s friends came to get us all.

Long story short, we owed my sister's friend big. We finally got to the venue though, even if it was a couple of hours before they opened!  We would’ve been first in line – front row had the car worked!! But now we were more like 200,000th in line. So so sad…The venue was packed and there were miles and miles of the line wrapping around the theater maybe three times!! It was the worst. The show started with other bands playing before them, they were so great too!! If only I could’ve seen past everyone!! (It’s awful to be this short!). After waiting for a good twenty minutes, the lights were turned off and the crowd thunderously cheered and then everyone pushed over me, making me move further in the back. It was them!! Those glorious goddesses!! It wasn’t fair! We were supposed to be up there and I even made Alicia a shirt that I was wearing for goodness sake!! 

I tried to find things to stand on, but I kept getting yelled at by the security people. They played through their entire setlist with their usual banter in between which I would’ve loved to see up front. But instead I was only catching their punchlines just seconds before everyone started laughing and hollering. The typical drunks would shout out their names over-powering my voice trying to call out to them. It was no use, Diary, it was at that point where I started to feel inadequate and that I was too little and unimportant to be seen or heard after spending the entire show trying to get their attention. That was when I started to cry. It wasn’t fair!! I used up a whole years’ worth of allowance to see them and that was how I spent it.


And that’s when it happened. It was a miracle. Tammy from the stage somehow heard me crying in the back and asked who that was. A drunk person claimed it, but was quickly booed as the crowds saw me and then parted slowly opening up a path to them. 

“Hello little girl, why are you crying? Was it Alicia? I know, she’s been known to make people cry, it’s ok.” Tammy said to me over the mic. The crowds laughed and awed. It was so sweet. I couldn’t believe it. 

“Come up here,” Those were the sweetest words I have heard from Alicia as I wiped my eyes and moved up. From there, I explained our crazy mishap on the way to see them and for the rest of the show (after Tammy and Alicia put it to a vote), I got to see them with my sisters and friends up front and afterwards MET THEM IN PERSON!! It was truly a miracle I will never forget.    

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