Dana and Bobby...
A
JOURNEY OF A LIFETIME - It was February 10, 2001. A
day I will never forget. When the day started I wasn't sure how it was
going to end. But here is a little story and you will see that it turned
out better than I ever could imagine.
The tickets to the Manitowoc concert to see my idol of a majority of the years I've
been alive were the best Christmas gift a person could ever ask for. I held those tickets
in my hand for what seemed to be an eternity. The shock still hasn't worn off. It was
a dream come true. It had been 30 years since I saw Bobby and I was about to turn into
that teeny bopper girl of the late 60's/early 70's.
It was a very cold morning when my sister Darlene and I took off from West Bend on a
magical journey. We arrived in town a little earlier than we needed to be to find out
where everything was especially the concert hall.
After that we headed over to Applebee's for a Bobby Sherman Fan luncheon hosted by
Ginny. A nice time was had by all who attended. It was so much fun to meet other people
who had the same love in common: Bobby! Bobby! Bobby! Everyone had such interesting things
to say about their own experiences meeting Bobby and a lot of photo albums were shared.
Ginny had made these very nice Bobby buttons for all of us to remember that special day.
We all had some lunch, talked some more and then headed off to our hotels to change for
the big event.
My Meet and Greet buddies were Kim, Bobbi, Cherie, Rita, and Carolyn. I think each of us
were more excited than the next. We planned out how we were going to get pictures of each
other, talked about what we might say to Bobby and shared what things we were going to
have him sign.
It was about 5:30 when Bobbi and Cherie knocked on my hotel room door and were ready to
get going. We took a few pictures of each other in our meet Bobby outfits and then we went
to pick up Rita at her room and off we were. My sister Darlene was also with us and she
was a good sport. The closer it got to that magic moment the more "crazy" I was
becoming and I think she had a lot of fun with all of that atmosphere. Darlene is 5 years
older than me so she wasn't around the house much during my teeny bopper days.
Off to the concert hall to get our Meet and Greet pass. We were to wait near a door
leading to a long hallway and she would then take us to the Green Room. That was the
official meeting place. She came, saw that we were all ready with our passes and we were
on our way. A couple other people were with her. One of the ladies had a walkie talkie and
each time we got past a certain place she would say to whoever was on the other end,
"We've passed so and so". Of course it wasn't "so and so",
but I wasn't really listening all that closely. I had other things on my mind.
Finally we were in the Green Room. There were people from the band and back stage people
eating and talking. We all went over our camera plans. The others were talking a little
more, but I decided to stand near the door Bobby would enter through. It seemed like an
eternity, but he came through as I let out a gasp and he said with full eye contact to me,
"Hi! How are ya?" I could have died right on the spot. It was actually Bobby and
he was talking to ME. I will never ever forget that as long as I live.
Then it was time to Meet him officially. I walked up, said "Hello!" or something
like that. Gave him a big hug (and he hugged me back! WOW!!)
We talked for a few minutes and then he signed the things I had brought. His first album
cover and the cover of his album "Here Comes Bobby". We then had our photo taken
together. Some of what he and I talked about and just some of the other memories of that
time frame are still a little fuzzy. One big question I had and wasn't completely
sure of the answer to was, "Did I actually hug Bobby Sherman?". Well, a few
weeks after that my Meet and Greet buddy Bobbi sent me proof. The answer is YES, I did
actually hug that great man.
A very big THANKS goes out to Kathi Hoffman. She was the one who made all of this
possible. Thank you Kathi from the bottom of my heart. You work miracles, you really do!!
Thanks Bobby for being such a positive influence in my life both when I was growing up and
in my life today. You are a very special person and I want to thank you also for taking
the time out of your busy schedule to do the concerts and especially the Meet and Greet
part. You make dreams come true for lots of us that are still those little girls still
hoping for a glance or word from someone who means the most to us.
Thanks Ginny for allowing me to share my story! It was so much fun meeting you and getting
to know you a little. Bobby considers us all friends of his and so I guess that makes us
one big happy family.