No opinions today, just a nice story to share.
Olivia Newton-John
Eight years ago while working at my bookshop my best friend looked at me and asked: “If you could meet any person in the world, dead or alive, who would you want to meet?”
Without hesitation I said Olivia Newton-John.
That answer shocked her and we discussed why I chose her. Basically, she’s been a positive role model since I was 8. She’s overcome cancer. She’s classy. She’s an activist. She’s down to earth. She’s full of love (which radiates from her eyes and smile) and her voice is what angels would sound like . She’s simply beautiful from the purest way I see beauty.
I left the store to get lunch and when I came back my friend, who worked for me at the time, freaked out I had left because a regular customer came in giving away Olivia Newton-John concert tickets from a radio station she worked for (talk about coincidence!). She couldn’t go and wanted to make someone’s day. Unfortunately, since my friend didn’t know if I could go, she asked the ticket holder to come back in a few minutes. Turned out she gave it to someone else. I was devastated I lost the chance.
So I said, screw it and closed the shop early and invited my friend to join me as I planned to see the concert anyway, even if I had to sit in the last seat of the auditorium. My friend couldn’t afford the tickets so I offered to buy it for her. I couldn’t think of anyone better at that time to attend with. It was a spontaneous decision, totally selfish on my part but it was Olivia Newton-John. Well worth a few lost dollars in the register.
As we approached the ticket office a man stopped us and asked if we wanted to buy the tickets he had – 3rd row seats, just a $100. I didn’t have $100. I had a check book. I’m not sure how I convinced him to take a check other than pleading that I owned a bookshop, had a respectable place in the community, was very trusting (with a big smile) and I showed him my ID. I even invited him to the store and bribed him with a free drink and dessert. “I’ll even throw in a book if you find one!” A little persuasion later, I was sitting in the third row and I felt like I had just won the lottery.
It was the best concert I’ve ever attended. My friend and I bopped in our seats like teenagers at a rock concert and sang at the top of our voices. I kept seeing people from the back running to the stage to touch Olivia’s hand and all I could think was I want to touch her hand! As spontaneous as I’m usually not, as though pushed by some external force, I stood up from my seat and dashed to the stage. She saw me and reached her hand out. I have no recollection of anything but “wow, I’m gonna “meet” Olivia” — then the security guard stopped me. In hindsight I should have ignored him. I was less than a foot away. If my arm was just a little longer but being I was so unexpectedly ripped back to reality from this fantasy I was experiencing, I went back to my seat.
I had hoped to meet her, touch her hand, just say “Hi. You’ve been such an inspiration”, but all I got was acknowledgement of my existence and the opportunity to try. Good enough. It was the closest I’d probably ever get to her anyway and it was more than I could have ever imagined just because I never thought I’d get that far.
A couple weeks ago, while trying to figure out a good birthday gift for my daughter, I noticed an ad in the paper. Olivia was coming to town. Well, being I had thought 8 years ago was my only chance, I couldn’t pass up yet another opportunity, especially since just a few days prior I was thinking about that experience and how I never got to tell anyone about it because the concert was Sept. 10, 2001, the evening before 911. I went to work excited to tell everyone the story and then the twin towers came crashing down, literally and figuratively. Real life rained on my parade and truthfully, that evening was the last thing I cared to discuss.
My daughter was thrilled about going with me. She knows how much I admire Olivia and of course, I got her hooked on Grease the moment I thought she was old enough to watch the movie. Our seats were fantastic being I bought them the night before the concert and this time the security guard didn’t stop people from getting close to the stage. I gather because this concert was smaller and more intimate than the previous but also because the majority of the audience was over 50. I suppose some rules are laxed for “mature” audiences.
Long story short, we stood out by Olivia’s bus for almost an hour, hoping to get an autograph. Didn’t happen. Oh well. Maybe there’ll be another time. My daughter did, however, manage to get the autograph from a few band members and back up singers who she really liked and being that my kid wants nothing more than to have a band and sing on stage, it was big for her. I went a little nutty on the souvenier purchases: a t-shirt for both of us, the photo book, a few magnets, a CD and a small portrait of Olivia. I thought, if nothing else, my daughter could be inspired by the woman I’ve always been inspired by and if not that, then maybe just seeing that not all music concerts require Britney Spears dancing might be a good introduction to the simplicity of music concerts that’s lost in the big names she currently enjoys.
The evening turned out to be very different than the one I had 8 years ago. Back then I went as an independant woman with a friend, single and child-less for the night. Monday I went as a mother and I was overwhelmed by some of the inspirational words in Olivia’s music that made my daughter cry of joy because the lyrics were incredibly inspirational in terms of overcoming adversity and finding self-love and value. Kids need that. We all need that.
So I didn’t get my chance to meet Olivia Newton-John but I wear the souvenir T-shirt proudly. It states, “Love is the letting go of fear.” That’s a fantastic motto to welcome into one’s life, particularly if one doesn’t give into fear.
I did like my daughter’s comment about Olivia though: “she’s got some spunk for a woman her age.” Yes, she does. All beautiful women who understand love do.
** Some of Olivia’s worthy causes to join.
