OMG - I actually hugged Emily Saliers!!

Yesterday was Trouble's birthday, and I won't go into too much detail because I don't want to detract from her blog, but her big birthday gift from me was that we went to the Indigo Girls concert here in KC. They just happened to be playing on her actual birthday - how cool is that? But to make it even cooler, I was browsing their website one day and found this little blurb about them starting a Green Team. They were looking for fans to pick up their recyclables after the show and take them to a local recycling center so that their tour could be a little more eco-friendly. As a thank you, whoever volunteered to do this would get free tickets to the show or some other token of appreciation. I sent an email figuring someone from KC would have already jumped on it since the concert was only a month away and tickets had been on sale a while, but a week and half ago I got an email asking if I still wanted to do it. HOW COOL IS THAT?? Since we already had tickets to the show, they gave us backstage passes and right after the concert we got to meet Amy and Emily. There were other people in line waiting for the After Show stuff, but we were specifically called up by ourselves. Trouble and I were already giddy (the concert was absolutely AWESOME and we were only 4 people back from the stage) when we went upstairs to meet with them. We got our picture taken with them (to be seen later when we have our home computer hooked up again after the move) and chatted for a couple of minutes before they told us they already recycled their stuff and there wasn't anything we had to do. Trouble insists it was the best birthday EVER (I had to do something good to repay her for my big 30th bday surprise party a couple of years ago).

I'm still kind of amazed that I actually had the opportunity to talk with them, but didn't ask them any of the millions of questions I had or gush about how great they were. I was so worried about not coming off as a crazed fan, I don't know if I said much of anything (other than making a joke that Amy didn't break a string - which looking back on it, seems lame). I know they're just people - and they're definitely laid back and not as "famous" and some other celebrity types - so why did I get so dumbstruck?? What is it about people who are famous that gets the rest of us all in a tizzy? I don't know - I just thought it was interesting that when we walked out of there last night, I felt like a jubilant little kid on Christmas morning. I honestly expected to get a signed photograph or something - not to actually meet them. I knew it was a big moment for Trouble, and was surprised at how much it affected me too. Guess I'm just another fan after all.