EEK.....
Ok, so apparently this has become my own personal thread, so this is the last consecutive post I'm adding. Unless some big news is announced before someone replies.
I was emailing some friends about the experience last week, so instead of giving you guys the LOOOOOOOONG version (which is VERY long), I'm giving you the condensed Cliff's notes, which is basically the three things I'll remember most about the meeting. Also known as the three stupid things I did.
So here goes...cut and pasted from the email....
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Well, I'm coming to report to you on how things went with Clay. Unfortunately, after almost two weeks of people saying, "just be yourself" I actually followed that advice.
And did being myself mean behaving with the grace, wit, and charm that I so begged for in the days leading up to the event?
Um, have you ever MET me?
Yeah, not so much in the way of grace. Wit and charm don't seem to be my allies either.
Three bulletpoints stand out in my mind about the eight seconds I had with him:
1 - I had brought a small collection of souveniers for Clay, his tour manager Mary, and his dog, Raleigh. It wasn't much, but it was very me. And I handed it to Mary, telling her, "it's for him, but there's something for you too. Something I want you to read."
And Clay looked at me with a very funny expression that said, "excuse me? I think you're here for ME."
So I said, "Don't worry, there's something for you too."
He responded, "Oh sure, now we're bringing gifts for Mary, huh?"
So STRIKE ONE. I'm bringing gifts for others. Yikes.
2 - Clay signed his normal signature, with my name, "Use your voice", Clay Aiken. Then, due to some conversation we were having that I do not now recall (I blanked out), he wrote another message underneath it, with my name a second time.
Mind you, my name was spelled CORRECTLY not six inches from it. But he almost - ALMOST - spelled it wrong. He wrote K-Y-L-E-e, then caught himself. He scribbled the second E into an N and finished it off. But I was looking over it, so he said,
"Is it right?"
Me: "Well, we can just spell it that way from now on."
Clay: "What do you mean? That's right - it's right!"
Me: "Yeah, but you had to FIX it."
Strike TWO. I called him out on spelling my name wrong. Ahhhh....I love him.
3 - (And this is possibly the most illustrative of ME.)
His security guard kinda nudged me by the elbow to go to the other side of the table to take the picture. Of course, this is right after I yelled at him, so I wasn't paying attention to where I was going, just watching his face.
Shoulda looked, cause then I felt something squish. I looked down, and so did Clay, and what do I see?
His toe. His very clean ENORMOUS feet in GINORMOUS sandals. And I had stepped on his toe. My reaction: "OHMYGOODNESSIJUSTSTEPPEDONYOURTOEI'MSOSORRY!!"
He says, "and NOW you're steppin' on my toes!"
Strike THREE. I STEPPED ON HIM.
Yeah, this is a story to share with the grandkids. *shakes head in shame*
So, anyhoo, I'm pretty sure there were no hard feelings because he said, "Nice to meet you, Kylene" after we took the picture. He was more handsome and cooler in person than I've ever seen him on tv or stage. By the way, I look goofy in the picture. I've got that excited look going on, with the huge toothy grin and the chub cheeks.
I want a do-over.