Instant Replay

I ended up absolutely loving the new camera. It takes great pictures, it's easy to use, and I'm so glad I bought it. To my surprise, Mom and I ended up having a blast with its video capabilities.

We laughed til we couldn't breath when we realized that letting it film while the camera hung around Mom's neck as she followed me resulted in the illusion of me walking. I bob up and down and the back of my wheelchair looks like a hiker's backpack. I'm so short among all the walkers, it reminds me of when they would show Gobo's Uncle Traveling Mat on Fraggle Rock. You'll see a bit of that in the video I'm posting.

I whipped up a recap of the trip with the video we shot. You'll see bits of Mom's reaction to the Skywheel, Niagara Falls, Toronto, all that fun stuff. Enjoy!

Jacob's 2004 Adventure: Epilogue

Two days after we returned was September 4th, my 22nd birthday. I celebrated by going out to eat with Mom, then I had a few friends over. Drinks, a DVD, nothing spectacular, but it was nice.
It was a bit odd going from being backstage with my favorite band and constant action to having such a quiet, low-key birthday party.

In the weeks following our return, I told my story to anyone and everyone who would listen. As I’d tell it, I’d show a slideshow of pictures and even had music to go with them. It was a whole presentation and I still haven’t tired of showing it. Every time someone wants to see it I get to relive the whole experience again.

I sent an e-mail to my new friend at Warner Canada to thank him, tell how the night went, and thank him some more. While I was typing, curiosity got the best of me and I asked him if he was the one responsible for getting me backstage. In his reply he told me, and I quote...

“I am only the messenger my friend. It was me that delivered the message and the strength of your letter that made it all work. The Corrs were quite taken by your dictation. The band had me scout out the disabled sections of the ACC. I let them know where they were as I had to leave for my sales convention. They said that Jarrod, their security guy, would look for you.”

There I was sitting in my bed, just waking up while checking e-mail on my laptop, and I was completely taken aback. Something that I had written moved The Corrs enough to want to meet me. I reread it a few times before I called my parents into my room to tell them. Even in writing this, I can’t begin to tell how much that means to me.

A couple weeks after the whole thing was over, I got a package in the mail. Imagine the ego trip I went on from seeing it was sent from Warner Canada. My friend sent me an autographed 8"x10" picture of The Corrs he found laying around at work! Plus it's an older one, so it has Caroline's autograph on it too!
The next day, I got another package from Warner Canada. This time it was two signed CDs! One was their debut CD with all four of their signatures and the other was Borrowed Heaven signed by Andrea, Sharon, and Jim and personalized for me!
I can't begin to tell my friend how grateful I am to him.

Thinking back on the whole experience I can see how different it was from my everyday life and how incredible it made me feel. The traveling, the music, the buzz, even telling my tale after it was over. Everything about it made me feel alive. I don’t recall ever feeling that great before. That was a once in a lifetime kind of trip that I'll remember and be thankful for always.

Jacob's 2004 Adventure: Part VI- Day Three At Niagara Falls And The Return Journey

We were actually somehow able to wake up and be out of our room (mostly) in time for checkout time. All our bags were packed and we were ready to go. I went to the window and took one last look at the view. When everyone was ready we headed downstairs and loaded up the van. As we packed up, I sat the gift shop with the best name ever. They weren't overly boastful, they know they were just okay. I had to take a picture.

It dawned on me that in the few days that we were there, we never actually went and saw the view from the top of the Falls, so after checking out of the hotel, that's where we went.

Having not eaten yet and knowing there was a five hour drive ahead of us, first we found a little place to eat. Being low on money, it was just cheeseburgers this time.

After eating, we donned our ponchos and made our way out by the Falls. Such a beautiful experience, the sound, the sight, the wind and the mist enveloping you, it was fantastic.

Of course I'm a dork and had something goofy planned.
Y'know how people take garden gnomes and take pictures of them in various places? Well, I decided to put my own twist on that and I brought along my Treebeard figure.

After taking a couple quick pictures, we set Treebeard up for the third picture and that was when the commotion started. We heard a sudden chatter of languages unknown to our ears and suddenly a young Indian girl ran up and tried to grab Treebeard! There was a look of confusion and panic on my aunt's face as she grabbed Treebeard and rescued him from nearly diving into the river far, far below. Not knowing what to say, my aunt just said to the girl "It's not real!" As the commotion died down, an Asian man in I'd guess his mid to late fifties walked over with a huge smile on his face. In broken English he said "Is...a tree?" I happily replied "Yeah! From Lord of the Rings!" Still grinning, he stopped, thought for a minute, and then excitedly said "...Next...Halloween costume!" Maybe you had to be there, but the whole thing was hilarious. Leave it to me to nearly start a riot at Niagara Falls with a toy.

We took a few more pictures and then loaded into the van for the journey home. Just look how sad poor Treebeard was.

The ride started off a bit bumpy as we got a bit lost while looking for the border, LOL, but after that it was completely smooth. The weather was pleasant, my iPod was charged, and the miles just flew by.

A little before 6 PM, the roads and the scenery started to look familiar. As we got off of the freeway a few miles from here, I felt like we were the four hobbits returning to the Shire after our incredible journey, we were home.

We drove to the parking lot where my dad was working to let him know we were back and we ended up telling him our whole tale right then and there. Having perfect timing, my older brother and his friend showed up just in time and they got to listen too. After visiting a little while, we left and I had one more trick left up my sleeve.

Before dropping Grandma and Aunt Karen off, I had Mom drive to Anthony's, the little restaurant near my house. It was while eating at Anthony's that plans for this trip were originally hatched, I thought it was only fitting that we end the trip there too, so I treated everyone to dinner. With our cokes, iced teas, and waters, we made a toast "To the next trip."

After dropping them off, Mom and I were finally home. Once we got inside, it almost felt as if we hadn't even left in the first place.
It was completely amazing. In four short days I saw a concert, met my favorite band, and experienced so many wonderful things at Niagara Falls. This was the best trip I (or any of my fellow travellers) have ever taken and it will surely never be forgotten.

Jacob's 2004 Adventure: Part V- Day Two At Niagara Falls

Tired from the previous day, yet energetic and excited at the possibilities this new day held for me, I awoke with a smile once again.

After everyone was ready, we headed downstairs and hit the sidewalk. The sun was shining, the skies were clear, and it was a wonderful 70 degrees out. As I traveled down the sidewalk I noticed something: I felt different. Gone was my usual shy personality. I found myself ahead of my fellow travellers, just going on my merry way at my own pace, smiling and nodding at everyone I passed. I was completely care-free for the first time I can remember and it felt absolutely great.

We started with breakfast at Denny's...kind of. My food just didn't look like food, so I picked at it just enough to last me until the next meal.

From there we went back to the hotel and piled into the van to get to our next destination. For most of my life, my favorite place in the world was Sea World, but a few years ago our local Sea World was bought out by Six Flags. So while we were at Niagara Falls, I made it clear that I had to go to Marineland, and we did.
It was no Sea World, but I really enjoyed it. Upon arrival, I looked at the map of the place and headed for the killer whale aquarium.

It was amazing, they had an underground observation area! I was completely mesmerized watching these beautiful animals. The aquarium seemed to be divided into two sections, in one section there was an adult that seemed to be sick and a baby, I'd guess around 4 months old. The young one was swimming around the whole time and interacting with the people watching through the glass. A few feet next to me there was a kid with a small, stuffed killer whale doll, this was responsible for my favorite moment. He kept holding the doll up to the window and something adorable happened, the young whale came over and kept gently nuzzling at the glass where the doll was. It was such a cool sight.

In the other half of the aquarium was a mother with an even younger baby, I'd guess about two weeks old. It was so peaceful watching mother and baby gracefully swim alongside one another like that, it was beautiful.

After that we got a bit lost but eventually found the beluga whale viewing area. I was so pumped, I had never seen a beluga in person before.

They're awesome, though quite weird looking, kind of like a dolphin that ran into a wall. One funny moment there was hearing a kid excitedly shouting "Mom! Look! There's a white one!" I kept thinking "...they're all white, calm down." I'm too sarcastic, even when I'm thinking to myself.

When we finished up at Marineland, of course my next mission was...find a mall. There was actually a reason though, I was in search of two Corrs DVDs that had just been released in Canada. I found them and we headed back towards the Falls, to Clifton Hill.

For those of you who've never been to Niagara Falls, Clifton Hill is a hill with the weirdest mishmash of places. Wax museums, haunted houses, arcades, themed restaurants, face painters, everything. Before we left on our trip, we were told by my uncle to eat at the Rainforest Cafe, so that's where we were going.

The Rainforest Cafe is a big restaurant with, you guessed it, a rainforest theme! It was pretty cool, they had a bunch of animatronic animals scattered around that would move occasionally, gorillas, elephants, birds, a cheetah, a snake hanging from a tree, there was even a shark tank with real sharks in it.

Every so often the lights would flash, there would be a thunder-esque rumble, and a mist would briefly drift through the air. The food was okay, but I fell in love with a drink there: The Mango Tango. It was beyond delicious, my mouth is watering as I type this. I was amazed that you couldn't even taste the alcohol in it, later I learned the reason...there was none. It was just a smoothie. But it was a damn fine smoothie.

After we ate, we headed next door to a big Marvel Comics themed arcade type place. I bought a mug and took a picture with a big Spider-Man statue.

If that wasn't cool enough, there was also a little movie shop where I took my picture next to a cool RoboCop statue.

We spent about an hour in a different casino, but I didn't like it much. It was dark, smokey, and just didn't have a good atmosphere to it.

We got back to the hotel around 11:45 PM and watched the lights on the Falls shut off. Then I thought to myself and spoke up to the group. I told them "This is our last night here and I am not going to bed at midnight. I'm going down to the steakhouse for a drink from the cute waitress, who's coming with me?" ...or something along those lines.

So the four of us headed downstairs only to find the steakhouse closed at midnight. Plan B: Fridays. We made our way to the Fridays downstairs and ordered snacks and drinks. I was celebrating a great trip, so I decided to try something new, I ordered the Ultimate Long Island Iced Tea. I was caught off guard when I saw that the glass almost looked like a fishbowl. I couldn't believe the size, but I wasn't going to back down from this challenge.

And yes, I conquered it.

It was nearly 1 AM and between the drinks and us just being tired, we were all completely slap-happy. We were laughing our asses off at absolutely everything and nothing at the same time, even Grandma, who was just drinking coffee was cracking up. I was laughing so hard I looked like I was crying, tears and all. And of course our waitress, who I also thought was cute, chose this moment to show up. I sat there, appearing to be sobbing, and all I could get out was "Can I have some ice cream?"
Again I was caught off guard when she brought my sundae in the same kind of enormous glass as my drink.

Before we left, I felt brave and decided to make a lame attempt at flirting with the waitress. I didn't think I was buzzed until I started to speak and by then it was too late to stop myself. Nodding to the two big glasses in front of me I said "I have to get a picture with you for bringing me these two huge things."
Smooth. Real smooth, Jacob.
But hey, it worked, she took a picture with me.

Exhausted and full, Mom, Grandma, Aunt Karen, and I decided it was time to get back to the room. At about 2:30 AM I closed my eyes and ended one hell of a Day 2 at Niagara Falls.

Jacob's 2004 Adventure: Part IV- Day One At Niagara Falls

Instead of waking up and seeing the cabinet in my bedroom covered with Superman memorabilia, I woke up to a view of a city stretched out far below me. The sun was out and the world was bright, I was in the midst of an adventure far from home.

I sat up and looked at the book and picture on the foot of the bed. I smiled as I saw these reminders of my wonderful experience the night before.

While we were all waking up, my aunt was on a mission. She tossed on a little outfit and went down to the front desk to talk to the morning concierge. She told her version of the story and ended up redeeming herself for being an hour late the day before. This generous concierge gave us an upgraded room for the price of the room we were supposed to have. Poor guy never knew what hit him.
We all got dressed and hauled our stuff to the new room. It was great! A living room with a couch and pullout bed, a bedroom with two big beds and a beautiful view of the Falls, a bathroom, a separate shower, and a even Jacuzzi. Style, baby.

After getting settled in, we set out for adventure.

Getting a late start, we went down to the T.G.I. Fridays that was connected to the lobby of the hotel. After a quick breakfast, we were on our way.

We walked for a while to see what we could see, then we decided on our first destination: The Maid of the Mist.
Our journey to the Maid of the Mist was roughly a half hour to 45 minute walk. It led us through the new casino, which we'd be returning to later. When we came out the other side of the casino's mall area, we were directly across the street from the Skylon Tower. One of my goals for the trip was to see the view from the top of the tower. My aunt said she'd go up with me...until she actually saw it. Apparently I was the only one of the four of us who isn't terrified of heights.

To get to the Maid of the Mist from where we were, we had to make our way down a huge hill, which was easy and I thought quite fun, but there was one thing we overlooked, on our way back we'd have to go back up that hill.
Deciding to make it easier on myself by not fighting gravity, I let 'er rip and flew down the hill. Mom matched my speed. As Grandma observed, she thought I had lost control and Mom was chasing me. With that, Grandma began chasing us while yelling to my aunt "Help your sister! Help your sister!"
We finally made it and got in line. We got our tickets and they led us down an elevator and through a long hallway. We were given ponchos, which we quickly put on, then we went aboard the Maid of the Mist.

The boat rocked as it traveled against the current and it took us practically right below the Falls. It was so incredible. The rocking, the wind, the mist spraying you. Mom thought the same effect could be achieved by going to the firehouse and having them hose you down, but I absolutely loved it. The poncho came in handy, but my legs were soaking wet for the rest of the day.

After getting back on dry land, it was time to eat. Right by the gift shop was a cute little eating area overlooking the river. There were one or two little restaurants, drink stands, live music, and a little craft stand. I decided it was souvenir time and approached the craft stand. They were selling leather bracelets that they would personalize for free if you wanted. I thought about it, I wanted one, but I didn't want it to just say "Jacob," too predictable. After some thought, it came to me. Over the past few days, I had met so many people from message boards and they kept referring to me by my message board name, "BoyOfSteel". So I picked a nice black bracelet, told the lady what I wanted it to say, and watched as she burned the letters "B.O.S." into it. After I ate me an ice cream sundae, we were once again on our way.

As we walked, I made a last-ditch effort and offered my aunt $15 for the casino if she took me to the top of the Skylon Tower. No luck. It was worth a shot. Maybe next time.
Shortly later, we found ourselves at the base of the hill, gritted our teeth, and started to make our way up. It's insane how tiring it was, even for me in my wheelchair, I felt like Frodo scaling Mount Doom. About 90% of the way up, a guy working a parking lot at the top of the hill came down and asked if help was needed. My mouth said "No thanks, I've got it" but my brain was saying "Screw you, buddy! I made it this far on my own and I'll make it the rest of the way!"

We took a breather at the top and then we headed into the casino. I had set myself a $50 limit for casino use over the entire trip. That night I lasted over an hour on $40 and the credits I won at the quarter slots. I don't think that's too bad for my first time.

Upon getting back to the hotel, we were all hungry again and decided to go to the steakhouse in the hotel. The atmosphere in the restaurant was great. Dimly lit, very friendly staff, hot waitresses, and amazing view of the Falls, which were lit up at night. I had a nice steak, a baked potato, and a drink called an "Orange Slice." The drink was okay, but went fast, everything else was fantastic!

Slightly buzzed from my drink, I followed as we made our way back to our room.

From the comfort of the room I relaxed and watched as they shut the lights on the Falls off one by one. I worked on my travel journal on my laptop, but we were so busy throughout the trip, I never even finished documenting the first day's journey to Toronto. Then it was time for bed. I had to rest up for what was sure to be another full day.

Jacob's 2004 Adventure: Part III- On the Road

August 30th arrived. I had gone to bed early the night before, but because of my excitement level I wasn’t able to sleep. Mom and I got up at 6:00 AM and got ourselves ready. I calculated that if we hit the road at 9:00 AM we would easily be able to make it to Toronto by 4:00 PM. A little after 8:30 we left to pick up Grandma. When we got to her house we got some frustrating news. My aunt, who lives about 45 minutes away, hadn’t even left her house yet!
I was fuming, this could throw a wrench into the gears of my whole plan. At 10:00 AM she showed up and we were on our way. We were an hour late and Mom knew what to do: drive fast (while of course obeying all speed limits and traffic laws...mostly.)

Though the weather was rainy and at times foggy, the ride was beautiful. I sat in the passenger’s seat wearing my lucky Superman shirt I had been wearing when I met Chantal Kreviazuk (that's another story in itself). I hoped it would bring me luck again that day.

Armed with my iPod and lots of good music, I helped Mom navigate and enjoyed the scenery. One of the things that sticks out the most in my memory was a sight somewhere in Pennsylvania. As we cruised along on the freeway, we crossed high above some valleys and rivers, when we did, we were almost level with the treetops of the forests running along the road. At that height, it struck me how beautiful it was to see the mist lingering above the roof of the trees. It reminded me of something out of prehistoric times in a way.
The fog got pretty dense as we passed into New York, but that was short-lived. The closer we got to the Canadian border the better the weather got. Shortly after we crossed the border, the sun finally came out and shone down upon our road.

Just after we passed Niagara Falls, our stomachs were empty and our bladders were ready to burst, so we stopped to remedy those issues. After a quick slice of pizza, we loaded back into the van and headed for the QEW. It was roughly 3:30 I think, still behind schedule, but I hadn’t lost hope yet.

Around 5:00 I finally saw Toronto emerging over the horizon. I was so excited, the city looked beautiful. Gleaming skyscrapers everywhere you turned, everything looked so clean, and the sight of the people quickly walking down the sidewalks after getting out of work was something straight out of a movie. To my Superman-loving eyes, it looked like Metropolis had been ripped right out of the comic books and I was smack dab in the middle of it.

It took a little while to find our way to the Air Canada Centre, but we persisted and made it there. We hurried inside and went straight to the box office to pick up the tickets that were waiting for us.

I had some time to kill before doors opened and I had traveled nearly three hundred miles, so I decided to check the place out and see what I could see. Mom and I went back outside and walked around the building. I was shocked to actually find a door marked “Stage Door.”
Outside of the door were a bunch of security guards taking their breaks, having cigarettes, etc. I decided to play it cool and hang around for a bit. In my mind, me playing it cool greatly resembles Richie Cunningham trying his best to act like The Fonz. After a little while, I made my way over to the guards and asked if this was where the band comes in, but he told me they had already been inside for a couple hours. I was obviously disappointed, but had nothing better to do than continue to wait around, so I did.

When I’m determined to do something, I like to think that I’m nearly unstoppable, you can’t kill my hope and motivation. At the same time, I’m not too naive to know when I’m defeated. It was 7:00, I was tired, discouraged, and I admitted defeat, so Mom and I headed inside. Having not slept the night before, I was feeling a bit grumpy and to be completely honest, if it wasn’t The Corrs, I really wouldn’t have been in the mood for a concert.

A short time later I got to my seat in the chilly arena, home of the Maple Leafs. I met up with a friend from the message board, Richard, who I had met at the Cleveland show. We swapped our travel stories and as he left, I told him to send my friend, Steph, up to see me if he bumped into her. It was then that something completely unexpected happened, as a result, Steph wouldn’t find me until after the concert.

Meanwhile a few rows back (When buying tickets, we were only allowed to buy two seats in the disabled section, so my aunt and grandma were sitting a few rows behind us) my aunt was amused by the fact that we traveled to Toronto and people here knew me. What can I say? I’m a schmoozer.

As I sat there wearing my Superman shirt in this Metropolis-lookalike city, I could barely believe my eyes when I saw a tall, muscular, completely bald Lex Luthor clone coming up the stairs. Instinct from years of comic books had me ready for a battle or at least some intense witty banter. Thankfully it didn’t come to that, being tired and all it certainly wouldn’t have been one of my better performances.
I watched him and was surprised to see he was indeed coming to me. Who was this? Someone from the message board I hadn’t met yet?
He came right in front of me and spoke.
My aunt couldn’t take the mystery anymore and came down by us to find out what was going on.
The following is what was said to the best of my recollection. For storytelling purposes, I’ll affectionately refer to him as “Lex.”

LEX
What’s your name?

ME
...Jacob.

LEX
Jacob Drake?

ME
...Yeah?

LEX
Who are you with?

ME
My mom, aunt, and grandma.

At this point you could see him stop and think about it.

LEX
We thought you’d be here with your parents. We have passes for you and two guests to meet the band.

After they resuscitated me, he told me to follow him.
I raced against the general flow of traffic in the main corridor of the Air Canada Centre as fast as I could, trying to keep up with him. It was like time slowed down as I bobbed and weaved through the crowd. This news had completely eliminated any feeling of tiredness I had just moments ago. I felt as though I was in a dream, after so many years of hoping for a chance like this, I was just minutes away from meeting The Corrs.

Eventually we got to a little waiting area, he told me to wait there and eventually “a big black guy in a red t-shirt” would come to take me downstairs.

As I sat there waiting, my mind and heart raced. I don’t remember the last time I had felt even close to this nervous. It was so bad that I had to keep wiping my hands because they were sweating so much. I could hear the opening act go on, but up to the point that I’m writing this I still have no idea who it was.

Fifteen minutes later a gentleman came up and started talking to us, it turns out he was one of the band’s tour managers. He was very cool and told us it was alright to take pictures, give gifts, or have them autograph anything I might have with me. He told us that as soon as they finished with another group of people, someone would come and get me. When he left I got my picture and book ready while Mom got the camera ready.

A few minutes later, the big black guy in a red t-shirt appeared. This was it, it was time.

We piled into the elevator and went downstairs. We were joined by four or five other people, they were contest winners I believe. I was led around a corner and down a hallway, I felt like such a bigshot. At the end of the hall was a door that was just slightly cracked open, I knew this was our destination. My excitement and nerve levels skyrocketed. All I could think was “Are they actually in there?” As we got there and entered, I found the room was empty. Disappointing, but a relief at the same time, now I had a few more minutes to try calming myself.

The room was quite nice and luxurious. Leather couches all around, a refrigerator, and a big plasma TV hanging on the wall. The contest winners sat off to the right of me as I got comfortably seated directly across the from where we had come in. They chit chatted about their jobs, sports, and the like. I wondered to myself how they could be calm enough for casual conversation while my main focus was trying my best not to hyperventilate and/or wet my pants.

Twenty minutes or so passed, it was nearly 9:00, they were to go on stage shortly, where were they?
At this point I was surprisingly calm. I remember I looked down at the ground for a second and when I looked back up I saw a tiny figure silhouetted in the doorway I had just come in. Time slowed down and as it hit me, I thought to myself “Holy shit...it’s Andrea Corr...”

She glided across the room, coming directly towards me. She was followed by Sharon and Jim. She waved to the other people, but kept coming in my direction. As she got closer, she spoke.

ANDREA
Hello, Jacob...

JACOB’S BRAIN
Holy shit! She knows my name!

ANDREA
We got your letter, it was beautiful. We loved it, thank you.

JACOB’S BRAIN
Holy shit! They read my letter!

With that she leaned in, hugged me, and kissed me on my cheek. I’m amazed I had the ability to speak after that.
There I was, talking to three of the four Corr siblings. To say it was surreal would be an enormous understatement.
It was such a rush to me, but sadly, a lot of it is blurry in my memory. Even so, what I do remember, I remember clearly.

We briefly talked about the Cleveland concert, I said how great it was and then Andrea said something unexpected. She not only mentioned the signs I had (she remembered!), but she also said that my last one made her laugh and it was what made her forget the lyrics to “Breathless”! Even though I probably should feel bad about making her mess up, I can’t help but smile when I think about it.

I gave them the picture I had made and they were kind enough to sign my personal copy and my copy of the Corner to Corner book. Then they gathered around me and we took a couple pictures together.
Looking back at the pictures I’m still awestruck that I’m in the same picture as them, that their hands were touching my wheelchair, that Andrea is holding a picture that I made. Little things like that just blow me away.

One by one they wandered over to mingle with the other guests, but Sharon seemed to hang around and talk with us the longest. Mom congratulated her on her soon to be born niece or nephew and we talked a little bit about how far we had driven to get there that night. This next bit I remember so clearly simply because I found her choice of words so damn adorable. After Mom commented on how tiring the drive was, Sharon replied by saying “Oh, I know. It’s a puffer.” Not being a word used in everyday conversations where I’m from, I absolutely loved it. Puffer.
As Sharon was about to join Jim and Andrea in mingling with the others, I made a decision. I decided to fight my shyness and speak up, so I did. I blurted out “I’ve got to ask...can I get a hug?” I’m so glad I spoke up, it got me a hug from the lovely Sharon Corr.

Still in shock after meeting them and unable to believe that they were still just feet away from me, I sat there with the biggest smile across my face you would ever see. At some point my aunt noticed Jim had forgotten to sign my book. When it comes to shyness, Aunt Karen is the exact opposite of me, the word “shy” doesn’t exist for her. That said, let me give an example of her in action.
Without hesitation, she walked across the room, grabbed Jim by the arm, and told him he forgot to sign the book. When she came back I couldn’t say anything due to the fact that my jaw was dropped after seeing her do that.
Being the great guy that he is, Jim graciously came back to sign my book before heading for the stage.

As the three left the room, they waved and said it was lovely to meet me. All I could think was “Who the hell am I? It was lovely meeting you!”
Jim was last in line as they made their exit. I called out and said “Come back to Cleveland soon!” He turned as he walked, waved and said “We’ll be back!” With that, they were gone.

I sat stunned. Did that really just happen? So much happened so fast it was like those few moments when you first awake from an incredible dream. You feel the joy from experiencing such a great dream, yet you also feel sadness in knowing it was nothing more then a dream. For me there was none of that sadness. Dreams do not write their names on your artwork. Dreams do not take pictures with you. Those facts and the memories make me smile because they remind me: on August 30th, 2004...my dream came true.

Before we even left the room, I could hear that they were already on stage and starting to play “Humdrum”. By the time we got back to our seats they had already finished it and were beginning “Only When I Sleep”.

Again, the concert was phenomenal, though my mind remained backstage replaying the night’s events over and over again. As a result, the two hour long concert seemed to speed by in about fifteen minutes.

After the show, Steph finally found me. When I told her what had happened earlier, her jaw dropped and her eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. The look on her face was priceless.

I gave her a copy of the picture I made and she and her father walked with us for a bit as we left.

Shortly after 11:00 PM we were on the road again and headed back to Niagara Falls. As I gazed out my window and watched the streetlights silently whiz past in the night, I reflected on my long, but amazing day.

After the long post-concert drive, we arrived at our hotel at 1:30 AM. We wearily unloaded our suitcases and went inside. Before leaving home, Mom had called and let them know we'd be a very late arrival and to hold our room...so of course we get inside and find out they gave our room away. We protested a little to the concierge, but we were exhausted. He gave us free valet parking for the night, put us in a cityview room, and said we could get into our original room the next day. We were too tired to argue, so we went up to the room. I knew I would have sweet dreams that night.