can't steal happiness

i don't know where to begin here. it probably doesn't matter what i say anyway. i could never convey what happened in those concert halls and how incredible it was. really. but i'll go ahead and write about it, it's my civil duty to society.

it finally happened. october 23rd in the year two thousand ten FINALLY arrived. i really thought it never would. seeing the weepies in real life seemed way too good to be true. it was real and it happened. it happened just like this:

we rolled into the dark alley behind the state room in salt lake city less than an hour before the doors opened. after natalie finally got her clothes changed in the back of the car and jaymee and i finished our mt dew we walked down the dark alley to the concert venue. when we rounded the corner to see the tour bus of the weepies we were so overcome with excitement that all three of us peed our pants...okay, we didn't really but we could have. we spent the next 45 minutes waiting quietly and patiently for the doors to open...okay, that didn't happen either. we were loud and giddy and shared our excitement with everyone around us. most likely, that last shot of tequila i had did not help the silliness either. it was fun and we made friends. that's really all that matters.

then the doors opened. giddy doesn't even describe it anymore. we were out of control. we were about to see the weepies. real, live, and in-person! we bought t-shirts and bags and stickers. i really wanted that scarf. it was so cute. but i'm not a scarf girl. then we had more time to wait. but this time we waited by the stage. front and center. we would be close enough to touch the weepies (not that we would because that would be creepy). close enough that they could accidentally spit on us while singing. the excitment mounted to uncontainable levels.

then it happened. the opening act, joe pug, finished. the stage hands got everything ready. it was time. the weepies took the stage. i screamed louder than i ever have before. and i meant it. i was that excited. then mr. weepie bent down to put his drink on the floor...i toasted him with my beer. he had whiskey. yum. then they played their music. the first song melted my heart. by the second song i was so happy, so peacful, so content that i never wanted it to end. every song seemed like it was only 20 seconds long. i was completely in love with everything. i had never been happier at any other moment in my life. really.

i think this was approximately when it happened. when braymee allen collectively decided that a sunday road trip to denver was in order to see the weepies the following night. it only made sense. we were in love. nothing could stop us. when the salt lake city concert ended we left giddy. i almost forgot to pay my bar tab and get my debit card back. planning the denver trip was almost more important...but then i needed it for denver. as we excitedly planned our denver trip on the walk to the car through the same dark alley who did we run into except the WEEPIES! steve and deb were standing outside their tour bus. and they talked to us! to braymee allen. we got a picture with them. it was great. an epic moment. we told them we'd see them in denver. i think they just thought i was drunk. no. we were really going to denver.

we bought our tickets online immediately. got a couple hours of shut eye. and departed ogden at precisely 8am sunday morning. we drove for a short six hours to denver. it was really cold in wyoming. but that didn't matter to us. we were going to see the weepies. we showed up in denver around 3:30pm. denver was stoked to see us. but not as stoked as we were to see the weepies...again. we changed our clothes in a scary 7-eleven. then it was downtown for dinner. time could not pass fast enough. there was only the most minor of mishaps on the trip. there was that time when we finished dinner and when we went back to the parking garage to get the car...the parking garage was locked. yikes. don't worry, we worked it out...but not before we found this little gem. god love denver.

and then there we were. waiting outside the gothic theater on broadway. i may or may not have had some cocktails...again. this time no tequila. we all were just as excited as the night before. maybe more. this time we knew just how good it was going to be. but nothing could have prepared even us to have our world rocked by the weepies again. i must give a shout out to matt the electrician who opened up for the weepies. a-mazing! thank you matt.

then it happened. perhaps even better the second time. the weepies took the stage. they played "please speak well of me". there's something about that song being played live that completely melts my heart. heavenly. then they played the next song. after song number two i yelled with all the excitement in the world, "i love you weepies!" that was when things got REAL exciting. they knew it was us. they had just realized that braymee allen did, in fact, come to denver and the look on steve's face was worth every second of the long drive. when he saw us he mouthed, "NO WAY!" jaymee replied, "yes way." then he told the audience that they had met us in SLC and to offer us an applause for making it all the way to denver. i love you steve tannen!

after the show we figured we'd meet them out back to gift steve the whiskey we had promised him in salt lake. they knew the drill. steve came out the back door of that theater with open arms and nearly ran to us. it was great. he hugged all three of us. we talked about the crazy drive, the awesome concert, the goodness of life. meanwhile, the 15 fans behind us got a little itchy cause we were getting all of the attention...sometimes in life the weepies want to be friends with braymee allen. the rest of the world will just have to deal with that. after steve very sincerely inquired as to where we were sleeping we bid each other farewell with one last hug...deb had to go feed that darned baby.

then there we were, driving back to utah in the middle of the night. i had to work monday morning. lame, i know. i woke up about 2:30 am to the worst blizzard ever...and i've driven through a shit ton of wyoming blizzards. seriously. i was so nervous for nat, the driver. i couldn't yet offer help, i was still sobering up. and our dear jaymee was asleep in the back seat. nat rallied through it like a champ. i'm proud of you nat. at our next gas stop, just before we ran out, i took over the wheel. it sucked. when we began to see cars off of the road and semi's with chains on their tires i realized that it wasn't worth the risk of the hurry to get back to work in time. even though if i'd have died after seeing the weepies two nights in a row i really wouldn't have been lacking anything. in fact, i feel like the rest of my life is going to be really disappointing now. nothing will live up to the weepies, nothing.