shamrocks in my eyes

I Bought the tickets 238 days ago.  Lost sleep over the excitement and filed through loads of outfits at discount stores to find the perfect outfit.  My heart skips a beat with every thought of meeting my idols.
Yes, I worship false idols...and you would too if you knew how deeply this music touches my very soul.  The fact that Keith Harkin makes my toes curl is just a perk.
I drive up to Boise on Halloween, my Dad's birthday.  We go out to celebrate and I made cookies for him, etc. etc. etc.  But that is another post for another day. 

It's November FIRST.  I've been looking forward to this day for most of 2011.  Got my hair done.  I wanted something different.  Put purple and blond highlights.  It looks so awesome!

Ash and I got ready.  Hair is perfect.  Makeup is gorgeous.  We grab the tickets and double check the time when our Meet & Greet starts.  I misread the time. 

It started at 5:45 and the time on the clock was 5:51.  My heart SANK.  I felt nauseated and we RAN out of the house.  Needless to say, we got from my parent's house to the Morrison Center in 12 minutes.  New record.  Normally it's a 20 minute commute. 

We took our shoes off once we parked the car.  We looked a little silly running and shouting to each other, but Ash reminded me, "KEITH IS HERE. IN THIS BUILDING.  RUN! RUN!" My feet froze on the grass, we didn't even bother with sidewalks. 

We got to the Morrison Center, have our wrist bracelets on, and went into a special room where our boys await.  I felt dizzy with excitement, as they don't disclose WHO is doing the Meet & Greets.  Our knees are knocking together.  My breath stops in my throat. 

It's KEITH and NEIL!  My favorite.  Ash's favorite.  They have NEVER done a Meet & Greet together before.  Believe us, we tried to figure out a pattern with all the shows.  I swallowed hard and got in line to have my CD signed. 

(The smaller picture was taken by a photographer they bring on tour.  I uploaded it from celticthunder.ie and don't know why it's so SMALL! I'll fix it. )

Keith signed the CD.  I asked him to sign it to Ryanna and me.  It all happened so fast and he was all business.  Neil, on the other hand, was very personable.  He looked me in the eye, shook my hand, and we chatted for 5 seconds before the picture.  I wanted to have them on each arm, just to be different, but it all happened so fast that I threw Keith off and Neil put his arm around me.  Now it looks way awkward.  But it was MY moment, not theirs!

Then it was Ash's turn. 

She got her autographs and there were a few people behind her, and then they LEFT!

WE NEARLY MISSED THEM.  Another red light and we would have. 

We erupt with giggles of delight and have to go sit down because we are lightheaded! Talk about seeing stars!

The show didn't even start for another hour.  We had time to kill, so we figured we better buy some merchandise. 

We bought a couple of these:

One of these for my collection:

A poster for Ryanna:

And a poster for ME!

We are finally able to go to our seats nearly 45 minutes later.  The anticipation is absolutely killing us.  We go to our seats.  There is ONE CHAIR between us and the stage.  We're in the middle of the second row. 

There are 3,900 seats in the house...and we are ONE CHAIR away from the stage!!!!

I can't believe we're actually here.  The lights dim and we soon hear the first note of the show, not realizing this night will be totally and completely unforgettable...