This is going to be long. So feel free to scroll down for my meet and greet photos:)
Back on June 19th 2007 I clicked this little button over at the fan club website. Got my e-mail that said I had entered and that was that. Then on August 1st 2007 I got the e-mail with the subject: You are a Clay Aiken Meet & Greet winner. Mind you I had been checking my e-mail twice as much as I usually do in hopes of getting that magical e-mail. I prayed for this. I told God that I know I am not perfect. Nor did I deserve this. But I needed this. Asked to meet Clay. I even said I know I may not meet him this tour, but please let me meet him eventually. I asked all my angels (which includes Justin and Griff mentioned in this recap) to help me. My gut is usually never wrong. I had this little twinge that kept telling me you are going to win. But I tried to brush it off and not get my hopes up. I just did not want my gut to be wrong this time. When I came home that night and checked my e-mail. I could not believe it. I kept saying OMG! over and over again. I stared at the computer screen for the longest time. I kept going back to my inbox to make sure the e-mail was for real and still there. I kept thinking it was going to disappear. I even printed out the original e-mail and put it in my back pocket of my pants and kept it there everyday till the day of my meet and greet. It is what kept me going, what got me through tough days at work.
Mom and I got down to West Palm about 3 pm. We ate lunch. Got mom a book to read while I was in the meet and greet. While in the bookstore I saw a book and on it’s cover was a butterfly. I told Justin thank you. And a thank you for the butterfly that flew by me two days prior while dad and I were walking back to my apartment after having lunch at Nick’s.
I borrowed some things from my fellow meet and greeters to help fill in the gaps that I didn’t remember.
My M&G was in West Palm Beach on August 18th 2007. We (a fellow meet and greet winner Gloria and myself) waited for Jerome (his security guard) by the box office. I wish we would have known about the A/C lobby that the rest of the winners were waiting in. Jerome came out of this door and yelled up towards the box office... "Anyone up there with a meet and greet?" So we headed his way. Once inside the room he counted us and we were missing 3 people. We were six OFC (Official Fan Club) winners and a Ticketmaster BAF winner.
We went down a hallway then into this huge room with a high ceiling. I remember passing a door that said "stage" on it. Jerome gave us the instructions. Not many. No touching. We could ask anything, no question was off limits. However he could not guarantee that Clay would answer them. The chairs were set up in a semi-circle. And a folding table in front. They moved the table back a little. Asked us to put any gifts we had for Clay on the table. Someone asked Jerome which door Clay was going to come from and he said you never know he may come from there and pointed at this ladder that seemed to come from the ceiling. (I am not sure of the exact quote, but that is close to what Jerome said.) Someone put a chair in front of the table, in the center of the semi-circle chairs. Not sure who, Jamie maybe. It is funny what you remember and what you don't. We chatted a bit amongst ourselves. Talked about getting our "Your are a Clay Aiken Meet & Greet Winner" e-mails and how nobody deleted them, stared at their computer screen for a long time, or scared to delete any mail surrounding that e-mail in fear of accidentally deleting it.
Soon Clay came in. His hair was wet. As he walked in he said something about sorry they were running late but 'mah fly was down or something'! We all laughed. It was at that moment that I forgot that I was hot and sweaty from the Florida heat. Forgot I was thirsty. I had no worries. (except for maybe deciding which question to ask him.) He was wearing a white Fifty2thirty polo shirt and the ever so famous khaki cargo shorts and sandals. (Which I really don't like. However they are your feet Clay wear what you what you want, I will still love you.) To me he seemed to look really young. Which shocked me a little. Esp. seeing him on stage later where he looked more his age. Maybe it was just me? Regardless he is beautiful. He asked our names as he went around and shook our hands then he sat down. It was awesome to hear him say my name.
One lady refused to give him her name because she had had an M & G with him in Dec 2004 during JNT2, and she wanted him to remember her name. He said to her..."Do you know how many people I have met in the past 2 years? Now tell me your name!" She later whipped out her photo and he said something like you think that is going to help me? So glad it wasn't me. He put her in her place so to speak. Gotta love teacher Clay.
He mentioned something about trying to figure out whom he had met before. (Not me). He wasn't sure where in Florida he was. We told him he was in West Palm Beach. He asked if any of us were going to the last show in Orlando. I know at least 4 of us said we were. He asked if he should do something special for the last show. I don't remember if we said anything?
Someone told him that he better work on the geography before the Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader show. He answered something like, ask me any capital and I bet I'll know it. He kept on trying to get us to ask him something, but we couldn't think fast enough. Finally someone said what's the capital of Liechtenstein and it took him a few seconds but he came up with it (Vaduz) I was impressed. I didn't know the country much less the capital. Wait... is Liechtenstein A country? lol
He then asked us if we had questions. It was going very fast at this point. It was so cool to watch. They have this down to a science. Questions, answers and autographs all happening at the same time. First person asked why he doesn't sing Always and Forever in concert. He said that he doesn't really know all the words to it and that it was not one of the ones he had prepared for the Idol audition, but after he sang the Perfect Strangers song the producer handed him a list with several songs on it and asked him to sing one of them. Always and Forever was first on the list so he picked that one. Next person asked him if he had any TV projects in the works other than Smarter and the Skating show. He thought about it for a few seconds and then said no or not just yet or something like that. I think she had two question ns. Can't remember. She asked if Jimmy Kimmel would have him as a guest host. He said that when Jimmy was sick they (I assume Jimmy's show) had called him, but since Jimmy's show doesn't have guest hosts they didn't do it. Clay said that if it ever happened it would be either him or Sara that would likely do it.
The next person asked about the up coming album. He said something about how hard it is to estimate the time when a CD will come out. From reading other re-caps on the message boards, my fellow meet and greeters did hear him say his goal is early 2008 He was signing items and most of us had unusual names he had us spell them. Well that would be where I apparently didn't enunciate my letters. I was spelling away and Clay says wait, wait, wait, and put his hand up to stop me and asked me “Did you there was an "S" at the beginning of your name”? I said no. He said something like I swear I heard you say an "S" or something like that and then I think he asked everyone else if they heard it too and everyone agreed with Clay…lol (I would have too If I wasn’t the one having issues with enunciating) He had to creatively fix my name. I said to him "just draw something." He said something like Oh I know and he scribbled something. Then someone said draw one on that side too. I had no idea what he drew till after he left the room. My autograph is unique and I love it! It has a musical note on either side of my name. (Photo below) He read what he wrote out loud so everyone could hear. Use your voice. And enunciate! Clay Aiken. He then handed my poster back to me and pronounced my name with an "S" at the beginning of it. I wish I had a recording of how he pronounced it because I can't say it the way he did. (Or say it at all with an "S" at the beginning.) I started out spelling my name while looking at him. That did not work, I ended up turning my head and looking at the wall to spell the rest of it. Might explain my enunciating issues…lol. That I and I talk too fast.
Someone asked if would go on Tyra's show again. He said he would love to but wouldn't till he has something to promote. Said that they have become friends. My question was somewhere in here. I asked him if he sings in the shower or in the car with the radio. He said he doesn't sing much in the shower. About singing in the car: He doesn't like to sing when there are others in the car with him. Only sings in the car when his brother is in it and he asked Jamie if he ever sung in the car when she was in it and she nodded, so he laughed and said 'and sometimes Jamie'. He said Nick never wants to hear him and always tells him to shut-up, then he laughed. I think he asked Mary if he sang in the car with her and from what I remember she said he did sing in the car with her. He said when he was in school and his friends wanted him to sing in the car, he would sing badly on purpose and they would ask him to sing for real and he felt that if he did he would be like kind of showing off so he didn't like to do it. Mary had us line up at this point and he kept right on answering questions. I had to ask Mary what the order was again, I wasn't sure I was in the right spot. I went 6th. Someone asked what he would sing at the Neil Sedaka event and he said probably Solitaire. Someone asked why he hasn't sung WAMLAW (when a man loves a woman) in concert: He got a funny look on his face and he couldn't remember that he had sung part of it on the JBT. (One of the stump the band songs on the Juke Box Tour)
Someone asked about his hair, or mentioned a style that they liked or when he would go back to a particular style. I remember him saying, I don't know you'd have to ask her, and pointed to Jamie. (His cousin and also makes sure his hair looks good) I think they said that they liked the album cover style. I remember he said he didn't like it long. Somewhere along the way we were talking about the Christmas tour: He is not coming to Florida this year for Christmas. I am really sad about that, but I pray that there will be clack. Clay explained how the Christmas shows get scheduled. What happens is based on the offers they receive. There is only a three-week span to do a Christmas tour. They have to keep the stops close together. He called it Christmas in the heartland. Which he has mentioned before. Not all the dates have been announced yet. Mind you these last few questions were being asked and answered while our pictures were being taken. As he was leaving he said he had to go get more ugly (he ran his fingers through is hair as he said it). And that he would see us in a little bit or a little while. (Something like that.) And then he was gone. We stayed in the room for a bit and helped one of us jot down some notes. We were then escorted up to the lobby.
I am amazed at how calm I was. Not really nervous at all. He was so easy to talk to. He is just like any one of us. Which we all know, but this just proved to me how down to earth he is. I am thrilled to have had this amazing opportunity. I will never ever forget it. Thank you to everyone who had a hand in allowing me to be one of the six fan club winners.
The show was amazing. I was in awe that I had gotten to meet him earlier that night. The next night Mom and I went to the last show of the tour in Orlando. This show is so special to me. They both are for different reasons. Every show is different. That has to be the one thing that everyone asks. You went to two shows of the same concert? And I say yes, but they are so different. I guess you don’t get it, unless you go see him for yourself. At this last show. It was a bittersweet. The end of the tour. It was sad. I was sad. I missed him already and the show was not even over yet. All the way home it was hard to talk. I was in constant thought. I wanted to cry. I held it in until I got into my own car to drive home. I cried all the way to the apartment. The next day I had to work. I got up that morning and it was so hard to get motivated. I downloaded any video, picture audio I could find from either show. I cried two times before leaving to go to work. At work I was a mess. All I wanted to do was be at the apartment and watch videos from the concerts and cry. A friend came over from my second job to see how the shows were. I told her it was good. She was like”just good”? And then she asked if I got any pictures and I said no. I think she asked if I was ok. And I said no and that I wanted to be at home crying. Then she gave me a hug. I explained to her why and started to cry again. She said I didn’t come over here to make you cry. I said I know. I thanked her for coming over. I needed that hug from her. A co-worker told her that I missed Clay. Yes I did. But that was not the only thing. I did not want to have to explain this to him. It was just easier to say that I missed Clay. My heart changed after meeting Clay. It was the first time my heart had been happy since Griff’s death. I was sad because I missed Griff and felt like I was betraying him by being happy. I know he wants me to be happy and it’s ok to be happy. It just hurt so much, but my heart needed this. My heart is not as heavy as it was. The grief is still there. I don’t expect it to go away. It is a part of me now and it will forever be there. I have come to terms with that. Thank you God, Griff, Justin, Clay and to all my unknown angels for making this dream happen for me. There is no way for me to repay you. I love you all. Thank you all for making my heart happy again. Clay I miss you. Please come back to Florida soon. I love you. Justin and Griff I love and miss you both with all my heart. Will never ever forget either of you.
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