Bits for Sunday, September 27, 2009

If you haven’t had the (mis)fortune of seeing me in the last 12 hours…or you haven’t read the post below in that amount of time, you might not know one very key piece of information: I got to see David Phelps in concert last night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, that was an overuse of exclamation points. No, I do not care.

I don’t remember who first told me that David would be in Wabash, but once I heard, I think I heard from no less than a couple dozen people. I really do appreciate how people keep up on my celebrity preferences and allow me to participate anytime an opportunity presents itself. At first I didn’t think I’d go. I know… such words shock the soul. But I figured I’d be busy or it would be expensive or whatever. And then I said, “REBEKAH! This is DAVID PHELPS. Get yourself online and buy tickets.” So I did.

Second row.

Then I started worrying about my tickets in the event of a fire. I prayed over the safety of those tickets – and don’t you even think I’m kidding. I bought a new outfit for the occasion – which you read about a couple of weeks ago, come to think of it. Friday night when I came home from work, I tried it on and hated it. Had no idea why I bought it. So I went shopping for a new one. Two hours later, I came home empty-handed. After the Friday I had, I’m not sure what made me think there would be anything successful about a shopping trip. So I dug through my closet, found an ensemble, and declared it good enough. (Good enough…those words are part of one of David’s songs….but I digress.)

So the day of the concert came and I was a chatty Cathy nervous wreck. I didn’t eat much, I forgot to drink much – which was good, since that only leads to bathroom breaks, and who has time when David Phelps is in concert?

My patient and very wonderful concert buddy, Ronda, and I arrived in plenty of time to scope out our great seats, which were even better than I thought they would be. They raised the orchestra pit and put three rows of seats there. So we were in front of the actual front row. Bring it ON!!

The concert was nothing short of amazing, as I knew it would be. He hit all his high notes and I sang (inside…I hope) with his background vocals and took fuzzy pictures and squealed upon occasion. I won’t lie. After it was over, I stood in line to meet him, and I was so busy telling stories to Ronda that I forgot to prepare a speech. That could have been disastrous, given my track record with such moments, but I managed to stay fairly stupid instead of incredibly stupid, so I was pleased.

Oh, and did I mention we had our picture taken together? Let me know if you’d like an 8x10. (Dad, Mom declined my earlier offer, but if you’d like one for the house…say maybe over the fireplace?...just let me know, okay?)

I came home, and I’m not sure if it was the concert or the 32 ounce coke I drank on the way home (at 11 pm) that got me, but I was still awake and bouncing off the walls at 2. Woops.
I tell you all of that because this is my story and I can, but I also tell you because I want you to know that when I wrote in my prayer journal last night, I told God I was super sorry for all my ridiculousness, but I was very thankful for the opportunity to have such a fun night.

I have friends who don’t have jobs. I talk to parents every day who have no idea how they’re going to pay for college – or maybe even the electric bill. I read blogs about people my age who have serious illnesses – or their kids have serious illnesses – that totally consume every moment of their lives.

Those sorts of things don’t leave my mind very often and when I’m able to dress up (even if it’s in the Plan B outfit) and hop in the car with a good friend and have a complete blast on the second row of a concert, I’m very thankful. I try to savor every moment because my turn could be coming. The day when my life will be consumed by something else, and if that moment does come, I want to be able to say I enjoyed the great moments to the fullest when I had the opportunity.

(For more of my concert experience, please scroll down....)