what seemed so normal at the time ...

when i look back ... it seems slightly surreal.

but at the time felt so incredibly normal ... exciting - always ... but at-the-very-same-time ... normal.

growing up ... my best(est) friend and i spent countless hours in the vicinity of some very special people. her daddy was tied to the music industry ... somehow. i never really knew much more than that. we were given opportunities to meet celebrities and given tickets to practically every concert that came through the cities ... so many, in fact ... that i can hardly remember all of them.

there was the golden limo sent to pick us up for a concert ... complete with backstage passes ... to meet janet jackson. i even (still!) have the black leather jacket that i was given from the rhythm nation tour ... it's still hanging in my mom's closet ... my mom offers it to me every. time. that i say that i'm cold.

there was the time that we went to her dad's office ... and i remember watching cartoons and eating cookies (funny what a child actually remembers) ... at a big long table in a conference room. eventually weird al yankovic strutted in wearing a gigantic wig and a pair of the silly glasses/nose combos. apparently ... i remember thinking ... making himself appear so obviously dressed crazy that no-one would notice who he really was. i also remember him pulling up a chair next to sara and i ... and watching cartoons with us.

we were going to meet the new kids on the block ... and spent the entire afternoon studying magazines to make sure that we knew who was who. and then only 3 of them showed up ... and there was a large crowd of fans backstage ... so instead of running up and hugging them and gushing over them ... we enjoyed the bbq ... free food at the state fair? ... unheard of!

there were more, i know ... and i wish that i would have been slightly more observant of the fact that everyone didn't get to do this ... and that i should take more pictures and keep more of the momentos ... i know i have an autographed picture of the band kiss - somewhere ... and there are pictures of us with the above mentioned people ... but i wouldn't even know where to start looking. mom?

it feels somewhat sad ... and i'm not sure exactly why ... because i wish i could remember? ... or ... because i wonder how much that stuff would go for on ebay?

my favorite experience though ... was attending the star party ... a party thrown by a local radio station ... at a bar ... with what seemed like a ton of entertainers ... and ... we. were. so. tired. ...

sara and i ... probably around the age of 11? ... were laying our heads down on the bar ... sitting on barstools ... attempting to prop our eyelids open with the umbrella toothpicks ... i'm pretty sure we had requested a plate of cherries ... and kiddie cocktails ... while a huge (over age 21) crowd was dancing and googling over the celebrities walking around the club.

i remember being tapped on the back and having an (ohmygod he seemed so old at the time ... but was probably only in his late 40s?) ... guy sit down next to me and talk about how he wears glasses too. but doesn't when he's on stage ... i had no idea who he was.

he and another band member (we thought?) chatted with us ... finally telling us who they were after a good 20 minutes or so ... (the beach boys) ... we didn't really bat an eye ... in fact we continued to lay our heads on the bar, i'm sure. i remember how nice they were ... and i remember a blonde woman with a too-short-skirt muttering something to him (mike love) about how she used to live in kokomo. she was slurring a bit and i'm sure would have left the bar with him immediately if he had shown interest ... i also remember him rolling his eyes and turning back to talk to us.

i'm pretty sure that our ambivalence was exactly why they sat and talked with us all night ... until her dad peeled us off the bar and took us home. at the ripe old age of 11.

brushes with celebrity ... and i had no idea that it was ... what it was. until now ... when i look back and dust off those memories.

for more celebrity stories ... visit spriteskeeper and her spin cycle!