2003-12-27
4:52 p.m.

BEVR: Raleigh Hockey Game/Joanie

Broad's Eye View Report: I Smelled The Clayton

My story starts a few weeks ago, when I received one of those eMail prayers that you send to all your friends on line. For this one you were supposed to make a wish then scroll down, read the prayer, and send it out. Of course my wish was to meet Mr. Clay Aiken. So I sent the prayer. I knew that same day the tickets for the Meet & Greet were going up on eBay, and I even checked the site, and yep, there they were. I knew I had no local friends who would be interested. My friend Linda, who had become my best online friend, and I had talked about it, but she told me she would not think about going at that time of the year, since we would be driving. I live in PA, Linda lives in NJ, so we are talking about a more than 7 hour drive a few days before Christmas, with the possible threat of bad weather, not to mention the possibility of losing the money we paid for the tickets and hotel.

That night I was on the Internet when Linda sent me a message saying "OMG, I did it." When I asked what, she said she bought two tickets on eBay, that she just couldn't resist doing it, someone, or some thing was controlling her hands! I asked her if hubby was going. She said "No, do you want to go?" It took me a nanosecond to reply "YES!" Her hubby went on the Internet and got us rooms as the Raleigh Hilton for two nights. We planned to leave Sunday (I was traveling by bus for three-and-a-half hours to Atlantic City, where she planned to pick me up, and we would head for Raleigh. We hoped to drive straight through that day, and have the whole next day in Raleigh before the game.

As you know the previous two weekends, we had major snowstorms in the Eastern Coast, so we were worried to say the least. Linda also was driving to Boston to see Clay a week before we were to leave for Raleigh. Thankfully, she was able to go (this is the 4th time she has seen Clay). I had only seen him once at the MAP.

The next decision was what to wear. I decided to wear a periwinkle mock neck sweater, similar to the one Clay wore on PTL, with my purple tie pin, of course. Wouldn't it be neat if he wore his, we would look like twins. Linda even told me to spike my hair! I had to decide what to give him, what to have autographed, etc. The gift I decided on was a book called "Geeks, Freaks, and Asperger Syndrome," which was written by a 13 year old boy from the UK. I bought two, one for him to sign for me, and one to give to him, in which I wrote a message to him. I later picked up a second book about training your puppy. Linda came up with the idea of mistletoe, and I bought two little preserved packages of it; it was made like a little mini pin-on corsage. I also knew that above all else I had to ask to smell him!

Well, the 7 hour trip to Raleigh turned out to be more than 12, due to bad driving directions from the Internet. We got there after midnight. Remember, I had three-and-a-half hours on the bus to get to Atlantic City, so I was driving for almost 16 hours that day! We both fell in love with Raleigh, it's a beautiful city, very clean with very friendly people. Linda wants to move there. Driving around the city was crazy also, as there is an inner belt and and outer belt to get around.

I heard from a new Internet friend "D" who lives about an hour from Raleigh, that Clay would be making an appearance at a Mall at noon the day of the Meet & Greet. The event was sponsored by the radio station. We got to the Mall around 10:15, and already there were many people on the lower level. They had given hockey game tickets to people who arrived there early, and those people were directly in front, so lower level was already crowded. We went up to the second level and found a spot in back of two small girls. Later, the second tier had people at least three deep. Part of the crowd started singing Invisible. While we were waiting, they drew more numbers and gave away more hockey tickets. One winner near us was a girl with Downs Syndrome, she was so thrilled! When Clay came out he brought Raleigh with him for a few minutes so we could see her.

There were a lot of signs, one was about Sweet Lima Bean Pie, and Clay commented on that. The sound system was poor, so we did not hear much; I hope you have a link to the interview, it was great. My favorite part was when Clay thanked his fans and said "Birmingham has nothing on Raleigh." He was presented with a check for $10,000 from the radio station for the BAF, and they also gave him a big basket of goodies. He even sang a few lines of Invisible, to the crowds' delight. He turned around and waved to people on all sides. We were to his right, but had a good view.

We met our friend "D" for a light dinner at 4:00 p.m. She's a very nice lady, who teaches school. She had never met Clay, even though her hairdresser is his cousin, and she also visits Granny's Pie Pan, where Clay goes from time to time.

The RBC was to open at 6:00, an hour before start of the game. We again kept getting lost, confused by the inner belt and the outer belt, and were running out of time. Asked directions several times. Finally, Linda stopped at a drug store, and I saw the druggist come outside and was pointing and waving his arms. At that point, I started to both pray and cry, it hit me that we may not get to the RBC and miss Clay! Linda told me she also started to cry while she was getting directions from the druggist. But, we finally found our way there, with time to spare.

We parked the van and went in. The security people looked in our bags, and I set off the metal detector. The man asked me if I had something in my pocket, and I pulled out the mistletoe and said, "Not unless it's this." He just smiled and let me go. I realized later I had a pin in the little bag holding the mistletoe!

When we got to our Suite, there was a lot of food and drinks (who could eat thinking about meeting Clay?) We were not told anything about what we could, or could not do, as far as taking pictures, getting autographs, etc. We picked up our BAF hockey jerseys we had ordered earlier. Some of the people there were already wearing them. We hope to wear them when Clay has his tour next year.

7:00 finally came and Clay was introduced as "Your American Idol!" He was awesome when he sang the National Anthem. I thought it was even better than at the World Series game. During the first period we saw that he was in the Wachovia box, which was next to ours. We could see Clay, and people getting their pictures taken with him. It looked like they a professional photographer, but I'm not sure.

At intermission he sang I Will Carry You while he skated around the entire arena wearing a hockey jersey, and the crowd absolutely loved it!

After the game resumed we could see him in Suite 211. We knew we would be next! Finally, Jerome came in our Suite and starting barking orders! He never said "Hi, thanks for coming, or any kind of greeting." He said people were taking too many flash pictures, which were hurting Clay's eyes, due to his recent illness. He told us they left that Suite because people would not stop taking pictures, and that some people did not even get a picture with Clay! He warned us in no uncertain terms that if it happened in our Suite, he would immediately take Clay out. He said we were to give our camera to someone working there and they would take the picture, so there would only be one flash at a time. We were also told there would be no autographs. They told us to line up with people wanting pictures on the left side of the room. Then, HE came in and I think my heart stopped beating; my hands were shaking. He had changed to his jeans, and black shirt, the one with black satin stripe and French cuffs. When my turn came, I gave my camera to a young man and walked up to Clay. I knew I had to be quick because of Jerome's threats. I said to Clay "May I smell you?" I was in a daze, and don't know if he even answered me, I just moved in close, with my nose on his neck below his ear, and took a big whiff! No smell of musk, spices, or cinnamon. Just a light, very clean baby powdery smell, perfect for him. I must have shocked him because he said in that adorable high voice "Oh, My Goodness!" (Someone who was there posted on another site and said a lady smelled him without asking, which was not true, I did ask!) I put my arm around him and the picture was taken. I asked Clay if I could give him some books, he told me to give them to an assistant, didn't get her name. I gave the books and three cards, including one from CBN, and that was it. We were able to watch him as the remaining people took pictures, and he was so precious and smiling that glorious smile. The man cannot take a bad picture! We were disappointed that we could not get an autograph. Everyone there had brought something to sign. One gal even had a large poster-sized board of his MOAM cover. Another gal was crying after Clay left the room.

During the second intermission he sang Don't Save It All For Christmas Day, which was probably the only time he sang that except on the AI Christmas Show. He closed with Invisible, asked the crowd to sing along. We all were standing up and singing along with him.

Then, just like that it was over and he was gone. We sampled a bit of the food, and decided we might as well leave to beat the crowd.

My one regret is that we were not told anything about what we could, and could not do, or how much time we would have with Clay. Jerome seemed to be in charge, rather than someone from the foundation. He would benefit greatly by being a bit more personable, and treating people as people, and not as cattle. I keep thinking of things I wish I'd had time for, like telling him to please stop calling himself a nerd, or making eye contact with him, or asking him if he realizes how much people really love and adore him.. Ten seconds was just not enough time.

Our trip home was uneventful, and much shorter. We passed the time talking about Clay, bashing Jerome, and singing along with Clay. I broke down and cried when I heard "Look What Love Has Done," my favorite Clay song. I miss Clay and feel depressed, and the mistletoe was still in my pocket when I got home. But I would do it all again, in a heartbeat.

Joanie

Posted by Nelle