Forever a Crush

This was the weekend of the Rick Springfield Experience. He was playing in Wendover, so The Husband, Little Bit and I packed our bags and headed for "normal" (sadly, I am saying a border town in Nevada is "normal". Shows you where I am at these days.)


Some background, first, on my crush on Rick Springfield:


First experience:

My age approximately 6 , his age approximately 23, his picture in TigerBeat Magazine. I hadn't even heard the man sing and I fell madly in love. He even beat Donny Osmond and David Cassidy and I had my hair cut like David Cassidy's for heaven's sake.

Second experience:

I first saw him in concert my freshman year of college at the Boise State Pavilion (now, agh the Taco Bell Arena. Reesh). I had 4th row center tickets which I stood in line at Karcher Mall for an hour to get (these were the old days they didn't print the tickets off the computer and you picked the best seats; they already had an assortment assigned to them to sell and 4th row was the best I could get). I paid all of a whopping $15 to see him and thought "Man, they are charging too much for concerts these days!" Ha.

The show was great. I literally still remember a moment when his eyes met mine (or I thought they did, he was probably blinded by the lights and had no clue who was out there, period!) and I was just like "Wow". My heart stopped. I knew how the girls watching the Beatles felt. And, no, I haven't felt like that in any concert since, including seeing Paul McCartney which was GREAT.

Third experience:

Big Bit was 9. We had taken him to Las Vegas for Spring Break. I know, we sound like the worst family ever but HE ASKED TO GO THERE. At that time Vegas was "Family Friendly". There were some amusement parks activities at most/many of the casinos (some of which are still there).

We saw that while we were there we saw that Rick was starring in a show called EFX at the MGM Grand. Had to go! Big Bit, of course, had no idea who this person was. He said "Well, he couldn't be as good as Aaron Carter, Mom." (Eh?)

We were going to dinner at Emeril's Fish House at the MGM before the show. We got there a bit before opening and were hanging around outside waiting to get in. A few lucky folks were admitted early to wait for their tables. The Husband nudged me and said "Don't you know that guy over there?" I looked into Emeril's and yes, there was Rick Springfield, sitting with his family.

We were seated pretty much next to Rick, his wife and boys, but I studiously pretended to ignore them while sneaking glances at him every five seconds. The whole time, Big Bit was nudging me, "Mom! Are you gonna talk to him? I firmly said "No, I'm sure he gets bothered all the time and he should enjoy this meal with his family." I could have kicked myself afterward.

At the end of the show, which was really cool, Big Bit turned to me and announced "Mom, he is even better than Aaron Carter". And I had to say "I told you so!"

Fourth experience:

Concert last night. The man is almost 60 years old and let me tell you, he is, as they say, "hawt". He hasn't lost a step and for the first time in the almost 35 years or so of our "relationship", I laid a hand on him. Twice. He came thatclose and I, as with many of the other ladies in the audience, couldn't help it (and he didn't seem to mind). And no, I didn't grab his butt. I still have a small amount of dignity.