I've been a regular lurker since the beginning of DCO, but have rarely posted. After the experience I had Tuesday, I feel this incessant need to babble incoherently, so please bear with me. Nothing like jumping in with both feet! I am apologizing in advance because this sucker is going to be LONG WINDED! If you fall asleep during the first part, that's ok...the good stuff is later on near the end.

This past year and a half has been a long, windy, and bumpy road. Most of those bumps have to do with medical issues that have had my doctors stumped. My sanctuary has been the hours/weeks/months of laughter I have been blessed with from continually reading the DWOP thread. So before I get started on my recap, I do want to thank ALL of the DWOPers for my free therapy. In addition, I met my wonderful friend Valerie through one of Mandy's chats. Val has truly been my saving grace, and I can no longer imagine my life without her in it. Apparently, we were supposed to meet through our mutual love of David's gifts. As luck would have it, I finally received a diagnosis a little less than two weeks ago. I have been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis......eh, ok, but Dave was coming to AZ in a week, so the MS could be dealt with later. Yeah, that didn't quite work out so well. Health issues landed me in the hospital on Sunday the 25th of October, and then we found out that Transverse Myelitis had set in. At this time, we had 4 tickets on the floor, but a little further back. Val forked out the money and got us 3rd row seats, and here I was stuck in the hospital. I've been known to be just a little bit *ahem* of a control freak, so the hospital plan was NOT going to work out for me. First, they were just going to keep me 3 days, then 5, then they wanted to send me to inpatient physical therapy for another 5. The physical therapist and her supervisor had NO idea what they were in for when they tried to pitch THAT particular plan! They insisted that there was no way I could attend this concert. Pfffffftttttt.....I am stuck in the desert, Dave is coming HERE, I have great tickets, and you are telling me I can't see him? I think "bite me" actually came out of my mouth. Also, during all of this, the unplugged session with Dave contest was starting. Last Tuesday, exactly a week before the concert, Val calls me in the hospital to tell me she just won us tickets to the unplugged performance. Did you know that they don't like it when you squee in hospitals? Well, for those who don't...useful information for the future. And then the kicker....Val worked her magic (with a little help from an AWESOME lady) and got us upgraded to front row for the concert. Needless to say...I won! I left the hospital last Friday night with my neurologist's blessing, and explicit instructions to rest until the concert . Which, of course I didn't, but that's just because I'm a 2 year old "can do it myself!" in a 42 year old woman's body.

So....Finally......Tuesday

Unplugged session, meeting Dave, concert.... Implosion!
I am so very humbled and appreciative for everything that happened that day, and the best way I can describe the events of the day is as follows: I felt like I was a "Make A Wish" child being given my dream. I am in no way saying that lightly. I know perfectly well that my situation isn't "dire" and that for some reason, luck ran our way that day. There were just so many "pinch me" moments, that at several points, all we could do was laugh. This was our 4th show, (we were able to travel to 3 of the So Cal shows) and had never had any expectations of meeting Dave. We are both of the adage that he owes us a great show and nothing else, so meeting him would have just been icing on the cake.
His music brought Valerie and I together at a time in our lives when we both needed extra encouragement, so, this was the day that we were going to be able to finally thank him.

My friend Lisa was going to the concert with us, so we dragged her along to the radio station, hoping for the best, but expecting the worst. We figured she didn't have a shot at getting in to the unplugged session, but it was one of those, "well where do we put her in the meantime?" situations. As we are walking up the sidewalk to the door, Dave and Neal are walking in directly in front of us. I don't know how it's possible to look completely composed outside, while your internal organs have exploded from nerves, but we all did it. Luck was again on our side, and they had enough room to let Lisa come up with us. That was more than gracious of them, and Lisa is now 175% 'cookified'. I do have to say one thing about the radio station. I've been to a few events in the past, mostly in LA, and this was the best station event I have ever been to. The entire staff was great! I have no idea what happened with that mysterious tweet, but I will attest, as will everyone else there that I have spoken to, there was NOTHING but love for Dave in that radio station that day. Once they took us up the elevator, we walked down a long hallway to a room where the other contest winners were. Walking down the hallway we could hear Dave practicing "Lie". More internal squeeage ensued, while we once again practiced "looking bored", as if this happened to us every day. As if....

They ushered us into a room where there was enough pizza, rolls and soda to feed an army. Basically, they pampered us for about 15-20 minutes. Next, we were ushered all the way back down the hallway to the studio where Dave was going to perform. There was one front row seat left and I hedged on whether to sit there or opt for further back. Apparently my friends were determined that I get my moment, because they pretty much nudged me toward that chair. So, that is how I ended up directly in front of Neal for the entire session.

Dave and Neal were on time today , so they were brought in within a couple of minutes. I was on the very end of the front row, and decided that I was going to just sit there quietly and not draw any attention to myself. I was right in front of the men who help make my days happy, all was well with the world.
As everyone knows, they started with "Heroes", which was unbelievably gorgeous. I took the time to study Neal's tats during that song because for some reason, I couldn't bring myself to get locked in "Dave trance" yet. Yeah, that didn't last long. Once I finally looked over, that was it...couldn't take my eyes off of him. Once "Heroes" finished, he talked to us for awhile, answered a few questions, yada, yada, yada....I'm sure everyone has seen the session by now.

So...it's very quiet in the room, I hear the first notes of "Mr Sensitive" and my body betrayed me. I let out an involuntary gasp, NOT a loud one, but apparently enough. I really didn't think anyone had heard me and just kind of covered my face with my hands. When Dave started cracking up I think those internal parts that had been imploding actually started coming out of my body, through my face. Then, to add fuel to the fire, when he asked "Who did that?" My friends, who are sitting directly 2 rows back from me, both STAND up, point and yell my name. At this point, I'm looking for the easiest way to crawl out the door. Neal is "still" right in front of me, and he's laughing so damn hard he's about crying, so I told him..."Uh, I'm just gonna go now" which made him laugh harder. So yeah....I got to crack Dave up, make him start over the song, and then he even apologized to me for messing with me. Are you freakin kiddin me? He made my year! That is definitely a memory that I will never, ever forget.

Of course he did "Lie" after, and the little turd did it again, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to be able to live with the fact that Dave messed with me. I always hoped I would make some kind of impression if I ever met him, just didn't know that I would be the bigger dork. When they were done and walking out of the room, he walked up and put his hand on my shoulder and apologized again. I reached up and put my hand on his waist and told him that he had made my year, and he gave me a huge grin. So, right about now, I'm pretty ok with the fact that I made a fool of myself in front of Dave.

They brought him back in to take pics with us a little while later. Since I was in the front row, I was supposed to go first, but wanted to go with my friends so that Val and I could tell him what he's done for us, so I hung back. When it was my turn to go, I'd been sitting talking to Bryan Allen, the DJ who ran the session, so I was walking up to Dave while still yapping behind me, and my left leg started to give out. My legs are basically numb from upper thigh down right now, so I have to be careful how much I walk. My only thought was, "puhlease do NOT fall on Dave". I wanted to get out as much as possible in the short time I had with him. I get up to him, and I can tell my leg is about to go, so I reached out to steady myself with his shoulder. I apologized and started to pull away, and he pulled me back in for a hug. All the while I'm saying, "I have a story to tell you" so he tells me to lay it on him. I think I blurted out about 50 sentences in 45 seconds. I basically just told him how I'd fought to get out of the hospital to come see him and was proceeding to explain a bit more, when he grabbed my arm with concern and really looked at me. I was completely lost then. Seriously, diarrhea of the mouth, blathering idiot. I blurted out about the MS, but didn't mean to do it like that. I was trying to explain to him that Val and I had met because of him and that she had become one of my best friends through this very trying year. Of course everything came tumbling out all wrong, and he's got my arm, staring at me, going "Oh No!" That finally snapped me out of it and I told him that my point in telling him was that his music got me through a very hard time, brought me one of the best friends I've ever had, and strengthened my resolve to do something with my life that makes me happy. Val was standing back waiting her turn listening and she was about to start crying, so he looked at her, pointed his fingers at her eyes, then back to his eyes and said "focus", like she had better not start crying, or he would. It was all very sweet, and he was just so damn genuine. I knew this to be true, but to witness it personally is a very different thing. In the end, he got the point that I was thanking him for what he does and who he is, and we definitely ended it on a lighthearted note. He started to apologize again for making fun of me, and I told him to knock it off, but that paybacks were a b**** from the front row. So, we had fun with that for a moment and then he gave me one more hug and we told him we'd see him that night.

Cloud infinity people.....still....on......

My lord I am a long winded writer! If anyone got this far, kudos to you..I'll write about the concert experience later.

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'It is the purest sign that we love someone if we choose to spend time idly in their presence when we could be doing something more constructive.'