I asked my cousin to drop me off Penn Station so I could take the LIRR into Uniondale. I was to be picked up by fellow diehard, Madelin, at the station, go to her house and from there we’d get ready to go to Hofstra University for our Rendezvous with the guys. I arrived at my stop and found Madelin waiting for me, along with diehards, Amy, Sarah, and Angela. As soon as we got to her house, we got ready to go to Hofstra, whilst watching Rockapella videos and chatting about our favorite pella guys. We arrived at Hofstra about an hour before show time, and as soon as I got off the car, I saw this girl running towards me. It turned out to be Jessy, another diehard, who I became good friends with online. She was so excited to see me, she practically jumped me! It was great! We all walked over to the front of the Playhouse where everyone else was waiting to get in. I immediately saw Barb’s kids, Manda and Scotty, and I went over to Manda and gave her a big hug. She just hugged me for a while and didn’t seem to want to let go. I told her that it was going to be okay, and that she can cry if she wanted to. I looked over and saw her younger brother Scotty and gave him a hug too. I saw Gene, Barb’s husband and we hugged for a bit and asked him how he was holding up. It was such an emotional reunion, as Barb had just passed away a few weeks prior to the show. I saw my other friend MJ, who’s also a close friend of Barb’s, and she and I hugged each other and just cried. We finally went inside and got to our seats. Before the show-proper, there was a short presentation on Camp Heartland, the reason why the Rendezvous was being held. The founder of Camp Heartland came out and explained what it was all about. Before I go on, Camp Heartland is a camp that was founded as a place for kids, who have HIV or AIDS or who have family members with the disease, to feel like they belong and just get the support that they need. Anyway, the founder also brought out some of the kids that have attended the Camp. It was great seeing those kids all smiling and full of life. After the presentation, the guys came out and everyone just had a great time. During the auction, the guys did a small presentation honouring Barb, and they sang a song that Gene, Barb’s husband, had especially requested, being that it was Barb’s favourite song (I can’t remember what the song was though, argh!). They also raffled off some goody-bags and I was fortunate enough to win one (I still have my Christmas ornament from Brookstone that has audio-recording capability – I have Bear singing “Grinch” into it).
The Rendezvous… After the show, all of the Gold Circle ticket holders were escorted to a reception room downstairs to have dinner with the guys. One by one, the guys came in, greeted by applause. We were already situated at our table, eating our food, when I turned around and saw Jeff walking towards our direction. He was making his rounds, from table to table. When he got to our table, he didn’t realize I was sitting there (my back was towards him) so I turned around and said
“hi”. He was surprised to see me there (aren’t they always? LOL). Anyway, one of the girls, took out a gift for him, a stuffed Spiderman toy I believe, and he started laughing and thought it was great. So, I took that as my cue to give him the present that I brought him. I had never given him a gift before, and I didn’t want to bring him food. I wanted to give him something special and unique. And that’s what I did. I got him a gift that I knew he would absolutely enjoy. So, I presented him with the gift, I told him that I hope he didn’t have it yet, that he likes it, and that it fits him. He got curious so he asked me if he could take a peak. I told him that he could, so he opened the wrapper partly, and then I saw his eyes “bug-out” when he saw what was inside! He looked at me and said,
“how did you find this?” I told him that I saw it at vintage store in L.A. I told him that I hope he liked it, he said that he did and he came over to where I was sitting, gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Aww…I’m glad I made him smile. :-D I spent most of the evening talking with friends, mostly Manda, Scotty and Gene, along with MJ and Jill. I did my rounds and took pictures with the guys, who were all surprised to see me on the wrong coast, again! LOL
We took group pictures with all the Rockapella diehards that were there, and even Scott joined in at one point (well, I grabbed him as he was walking by, and pulled him next to me). Kevin ended up taking pictures of us as well. All the girls gave him their cameras, and he became our photographer (I have a picture somewhere that I took of Kevin taking our picture, LOL.).
I went over to Jeff and asked if I could have my picture taken with him. So, I gave my digital camera to MJ, and stood next to Jeff. At first, we were just standing, side-by-side, with his arm over my shoulder and my arm around his waist. Next thing I knew, he pulled me closer to him, like we were about to hug. I tell yah, this guy can pull a few fast ones on you. LOL Sneaky, sneaky… ;) Gotta love it though! After the Rendezvous, we all headed to Madelin’s SUV. As we were about to drive off, the guys’ limo drove past us, with the window rolled down, and they started heckling at us. We yelled back at them as they drove away. It was too funny! Those guys can be silly when they want to. It was an awesome evening all together.
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