My Close Encounter with Fame

Jen over at Daily Mish Mash is hosting a Close Encounters of the Celebrity Kind from June 22-26. All you have to do is write a post about your experience (with pictures, if you have them)and visit her and link up!

When I read about this, I just knew I had to share all about my celebrity encounter, which I guess was not exactly by accident, since I planned it. And paid for it. More than once!

The first time that I met the one and only Mr. Springfield.....yeah, that is Springfield, was back in 2005. A show was scheduled to be within 45 minutes of where I live, so there was no question that I would be there!

Then came the email. The one that said for a small portion of my life savings, I could meet the man of my dreams. The one and only Rick Springfield! If I wanted to attend a sound check (where Rick and the band get everything set for that nights show, etc.) I could watch that and get autographs, a photo and a chance to speak with him. Now most people would probably think that I whipped out my credit card and purchased a sound check package on the spot. Those people would be wrong.

I got really nervous and literally sick to my stomach. I had waited my whole life for this, but I was scared to death. I had to call my best friend and have her actually talk me into it. Needless to say, it did not take much convincing on her part. I spent the money and the worrying began.

What to wear? What would I say? Should I bring a gift? What was going to happen? What if I was sick? What if he didn't like me? I was a basket case!

Finally the day arrived and I had every little detail in order, or so I thought. I had what I wanted him to autograph and I think that I know what I wanted to ask him. I just hoped that I would not stutter or say something stupid, because I am famous for that.

When we arrived at the venue for the sound check and were finally seated, I literally felt like I was going to hurl at any given moment. As the seconds ticked on, I really needed to puke. Finally, the moment of truth arrived and Rick walked out on stage. From that exact moment on, it was like a cloud lifted, my nausea left me and I felt a calmness come over me. My rock god was standing within feet of me and I was about to be able to speak to him, touch him and have my photo taken with him. Dear Lord!

Whatever it was that I had planned to say to him or ask him flew right out of the window. I was in awe of how humble and down to earth he was and so so so sweet. As I stood there in his arms and he held me close to him to take a photo, I thought I would die! This is one of the photos that came from that night:


That literally did it in for me. After meeting Rick once, I knew that if the chance ever came about again, I would definitely do it once more. Little did I know that I would get the opportunity a few more times.

July 2006

June 2007

April 2008