Before I Kicketh The Bucket

     I decided about two years ago that I needed to make a bucket list.  Just in case you live under a rock and don't know what a bucket list is, here's the definition from the urban dictionary:  A list of things to do before you die.  Came from the term, "kick the bucket."

Jesus...Lover Of My Soul

     I may have set my sights a little high.  1.  Spend the day with Jessica Simpson, 2. Get a tattoo, 3.  Go on the Dr. Phil show, or be in the audience at the very least, 4.  See New Kids On The Block in Concert, 5.  Own a bakery and call it, "Jenny's Coffee Cakery."  That's just a few.  

     With my touch of O.C.D. I find making lists very satisfying.  The only thing more satisfying is marking things off of those lists.  Sometimes when I accomplish a lot of things in a day,  at the end of that day, I make a list of everything I done and put a big X by each one. Ah...such a feeling of accomplishment.  You should really try it.
     So, get a tattoo. X!
     I have written/emailed The Dr. Phil Show so many times throughout the years that when they see my name they probably say, "Oh, it's Jenny again."  It's not that I really have that many problems, I just really love Dr. Phil!  What's not to love?  He's tall, dark, bald, and handsome, and tell me, is there anything the man doesn't know?  Nope.  I didn't think so.

     About five months ago I finally got a response from the show!  What?!  One of Phil's (that's what he wants me to call him) producers called me on a Sunday afternoon and woke me up from my nap.  The nerve!  They were interested in MY topic!  Seriously?!  We talked for close to an hour and he informed me that he would be getting back to me.  He called back two days later to tell me that they had an emergency come up, that they had to move another show up quickly so I would have to be pushed back.  But hey, I was on cloud nine.  I talked to Dr. Phil's producer!  I'm practically famous now!

From The Dr. Phil Show

     I just happened to be strolling the Dr. Phil website a couple of months ago.  Some might call it stalking, I call it, supporting an addiction.  There was a headline that said, "Are you a Dr. Phil mega fan?  Email us and tell us why you should be an insider."  I thought, I've got this.  I emailed them right away.  I explained in my message that I'm allowed so many celebrity crushes, and Dr. Phil is right there beside Donnie Wahlberg and Channing Tatum.  That must have caught their attention because they emailed me back!  

     Two weeks later I started viewing live tapings of the show online, before they're released on the air, tweeting my opinions about them, and having discussions in a chat room with the other "mega fans."  It's so much fun and you all may laugh, but I just feel pretty darn special!  There's on average, 40 of us that tweet weekly. I would say we're a pretty elite group  :) Go DP SISTERHOOD!!! 

     So, I haven't met Dr. Phil YET.  But if this is as close as I ever get, I'll call it good.  X!

     In December of 2012, it was just like any other day.  I was cleaning house, doing laundry, when I heard it on the radio!  "Turn it up kids.  Shhhhhh!!!  Turn it up!"  They all stopped what they were doing and looked at me like I was growing a horn out my forehead.  The D.J. just said that New Kids On The Block will be touring in 2013.  Nooo way!  

     I threw my dish rag down, ran to the computer and googled it.  Sure enough, I heard him right.  Oh...My...Goodness!!!  Breathe Jenny, breathe.  Okay, first of all, let's think logically here.  I just don't do things like this.  Concerts, yes!  With Curtis and the kids.  But NKOTB?  For real?  I have to go.  I HAVE TO GO!    

     The first thing I done was called my "bestie" Amanda Wright.  "Guess what???"  She was excited but was thinking a little more logically than I was.  This was going to be expensive.  More than likely our husbands would never go for it.  I couldn't wait for Curtis to get home from work!  I'M GOING!!!

     If I haven't mentioned it before, I'm gonna say it now, I have the best husband in the world!  I ordered our tickets in February,  the concert was in St. Louis in June, and for the next four months I was absolutely worthless.

     I couldn't think about anything but "the concert."  Our dinner conversations were always about "the concert."  When one of the kids was talking to me, I was looking at them but I was thinking, "Donnie, Donnie, Donnie, Donnie."  The tickets were ordered.  The hotel room was reserved but it all felt so surreal.

My NKOTB ticket!

     And so the countdown began.  96 days.....72 days.....48 days.....oh my gosh 29 days.....two weeks....and for the last week all I done, in preparation, was listen to New Kids music, watch them on YouTube, work on my poster for the concert, obsess over what I was going to wear...It was NOT good!

     The boys were so over, she's my "Cover Girl" and "Summertime" that they threatened to throw my c.d.'s away when I wasn't around.  Ugh...they do NOT want to experience my wrath.

     OH....MY....WOW!!!!  It's Saturday, June 29th, we're all packed and ready to start our little road trip!

     We were going up the night before the concert.  Going to do some shopping the day of, and spend hours getting ready to go stand in line f-o-r-e-v-e-r!  

Working on my poster!

     It was my friend Amanda, my sister-in-law Erica, my brother Jimmy, and myself.  Let's do this!  They were all a little nervous about how I was going to act.  For one thing, I hadn't been out of the house without kids for so long that I didn't know what to do with myself.  Another thing is, I get start struck when I bump into the local weather man in Wal-Mart.  How would I react if Donnie Wahlberg got within five feet of me.  Curtis joked that he had been saving money for months to get me out of jail just in case I got arrested while we were there. :)  They don't have much faith in a sister, do they?

Right before the concert.  This is my excited face!

     From the time we got in the car to leave Marshfield until time for the concert, I walked around like it was a dream.  I was still thinking...this can't be happening!  I'm going to see New Kids On The Block!  I'm going to meet the love of my life (right below Jesus Christ and Curtis Coffee of course) Donnie Wahlberg!!!  I was just certain when he saw me that he would want to stop the tour, throw his career away and come live happily ever after with me, my husband, and our five children.  Why wouldn't he?  Right!?
     IT'S TIME!!!  We spend two hours on our hair and make up.  Let's do this!!!  I felt 17 all over again!  Jimmy, my little brother, had never seen me act like this.  He had only seen the responsible, mommy, side of me. Where I took care of everybody, kept things in order,  and always put myself last.  Well, not today Jimbo...not today!  He just stood back, stared at me, and waited for me to do something really stupid.  I have to brag on myself, I was very well behaved.
                                                                           

It didn't matter to us that we already had our tickets, we still got to the stadium about three hours early.  Part of the fun is standing in line and meeting other "Block Heads."  That's what us NKOTB fans call ourselves :)
     There were several local radio stations there giving away from row seats.  Nope, we didn't win!  But Amanda and I did get our picture taken and put on "The Arch's" web site.  Again, I felt famous!  That's a WIN!
     It's time!  Oh my gosh, IT'S TIME!!!!  We stood as patiently as possibly and watched as they opened the gates. I swear everything slowed down and it felt like it was all happening in slow motion.
     Amanda and I had downloaded a picture of the seating chart to where they were performing, we had our seats marked, we had watched tons of the shows from the same tour, we knew exactly where we were going to be sitting...we thought.
     We went in, started looking for our seats, finally found them and "high pitched scream"  they were soooo much better than we had ever imagined!!!  We were right by the stage.  Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
     So we sat, I practiced my breathing.  I ask the security guard that was stationed right beside our seats, how much I could get by with without getting kicked out.  He looked a little frightened.  I explained I just wanted to know if I could stand on the fence and lean over to maybe "cop a feel."  Ya know, of a hand or something.  Get your minds out of the gutter.  He laughed and told me that if I stood on the fence, he would come and "recommend" that I get down so I didn't get hurt, but no, he wouldn't kick me out! Oh good.  Now I know my boundaries.
     Of course there were the two opening bands.  Which were amazing!  But I was there for Donnie Wahlberg, er...I mean, New Kids On The Block.  Uh Hmmm.....
     The lights went off, the music came on.  Their intro took at least three hours.  Okay, so it was more like three minutes but it was the longest three minutes of my life! And then, there they were!  About 15 feet away from me!  My mind worked over time.  "I could have this fence cleared and be wrapped around his leg before he even knew what hit him.  But them I would miss the rest of the concert because they would most definitely kick me out.  And Curtis was only joking about me going to jail.  He would NOT be a happy camper if he had to drive 3 1/2 hours to bail me out."  Yep.  All of that went through my head in about a 15 second period.  Then I think I may have blacked out for a minute or so.
     Then I realized, my sign my sign!  While Donnie's close, I have to show him my sign!  So, I stood up in my chair, the security guard didn't tell me I couldn't, and held my sign up.  It said,  "Donnie, I'm not Single but my husband says your crazy if you don't KISS ME!"
     That's when it happened.  That's the moment he had to make the hardest decision of his life.  He smiled, winked, make a kissie face, then walked away. He had a show to perform.
     The rest of the concert is kind of a blur to me.  Amanda took one picture of me standing, leaning on the infamous fence, in some kind of trance. I wasn't smiling, I wasn't blinking, I'm not sure I was breathing.  I was just taking it all in.
     They sang for two hours.  It was the most exciting two hours of my life!  I can't describe how I felt when it was over.  I was exhausted.  I was somewhat depressed.   I was fired up!  I was thrilled!  I was happy.  I was sad...
     That was four months ago.  Thank goodness those feelings have dissipated.  Once in a while, when I crank up my New Kids jams I still think, "I can't believe I actually got to see them."  This is coming from someone that gets really excited over a new dish scratcher or a different brand of laundry soap.
     I've been a "Block Head" since I was nine years old.  That's 24 years!  In all of those years, no matter what the different fads, I never stopped loving NKOTB.  I'll be loving them forever ;)
     4.  See New Kids On The Block in concert.  X!
   

There we are!  The D.J.'s loved my sign.  I had to let them know, it was my sweet husbands idea!  He's pretty great :)

So he's a Red Sox fan.  We can't all be perfect!