Stories to tell...

I've been taking the Stories in Hand class over at Jessicasprague.com (where taking equals reading the class e-mails while thinking that I really should actually do some of the assignments, but I digress). Although I haven't had any time to really keep up with the class, I have read all the class e-mails and gone through the many, many (over 1000) prompts that help us to remember what our stories are. During all this, I was reminded that although these "sparks" are meant to help us remember things that happened in the past, our stories are still happening. Every minute of every day, we are living the things that will become our memories, and how we tell them is up to us. Whether you blog them, write them in a diary, tell your friends verbally, or just pull them out to remember to yourself in a quiet moment, you will eventually tell them. This past week, instead of having time to record my stories, I've been living my future stories, and I'd like to share one of them with you now.

From Madonna Concert

Tuesday night, Kate, Kevin, Heather, and I went to see Madonna at Ford Field in Detroit. This story, however, does not begin Tuesday night. It begins way back in the dark ages (or approximately August-ish), when my friend Michelle received an e-mail for advance ticket purchases for Madonna through her credit card. We decided to go, we being Michelle, Jayne, Nancy, and myself, and Michelle ordered the tickets. Fast forward a couple of months, and Michelle, having had some family issues that are going to require her to save money, is the first to fall. So, I e-mail Kate and ask her if she is interested in taking Michelle's ticket. In the meantime, Nancy, who is a district manager, finds out that one of her stores is scheduled for an inventory on Wednesday morning after the concert, so she will have to be at that store by 5 am. This obviously makes going to the concert a very bad idea. I e-mail Kate again to ask if Kevin would like to go also. They agree, and Nancy and Michelle's tickets come to me to hold. Jayne, meanwhile, has been suffering from "contractor's disease", a very prolonged cough/upper respiratory something-or-other, and has been trying to find someone to take her ticket. She asks Shelly, who is considering it, but really doesn't want to spend the money or be out so late on a Tuesday night. The Saturday prior to the concert, we have a bazaar, and I mention that the concert is coming up to Heather. She is very excited about it, and says that she wishes she could go. I tell her that there may be a way, and let Shelly know she's off the hook and Jayne that if she's sure she doesn't want to go that Heather will take her ticket. In this roundabout way, the attendees change almost completely.

From Madonna Concert

Dateline: Tuesday, November 18, 2008. I rush out of work at 4:00, excited to be headed to see Madonna. I've always wanted to see her in concert, and this may be my last chance. The day is chilly, as a cold snap has just moved through the area after some unseasonably warm weather. The plan is to meet Kate and Kevin in Greektown for dinner, then take the PeopleMover down and walk to Ford Field, which is just a couple of blocks from our station. I have just discovered that my winter jacket has a broken zipper - a fact which I had forgotten when I put it away for the winter, so I have with me a fall fleece jacket, over which I will put my dress coat, which is warm, but not long enough in the sleeves for me. It doesn't look the best, but in 20-degree weather, I really don't care. To make the look even more fashionable, I have borrowed Mom's earmuffs. I pick Heather up in Aunt Rose's car, which we are forced to drive because my car was not ready to be picked up from the garage on Monday (a whole different story). I am very grateful that I was able to borrow her car, but I really hate driving it - it's not built for tall people. It also has only a cassette player and a radio, so we are forced to hunt for radio stations during our drive. We arrive in Greektown at about 6:00. Approximately 15 minutes earlier, we had called Kate and Kevin to let them know where we were, and they were waiting for a table at the Pegasus Taverna in Trapper's Alley. We park the car and walk into the restaurant to find that many, many other people had the same idea that we had. When Kate and Kevin arrived, they were told that we would be seated in about 15 minutes. In reality, it was more like 45 minutes to an hour. This has us a bit panicked, as the concert is supposed to start at 7:30, and we had determined that in order to get there in time, we should be on the PeopleMover no later than 7:00. Our waiter arrives, we order, and very shortly after, the food arrives. By 7:10, we have paid our bill and are ready to move. We debate the pros and cons of taking the PeopleMover anyway or just walking there and decide that we are OK with the PeopleMover, so we head up to the station. In a very short time, our train is there, and we hop on and sit (posing for a few pictures along the way). We depart at the Grand Circus station and start walking toward Ford Field. After hiking about half a mile, we reach the stadium, expecting to pretty much walk up to the doors, present our tickets, and find our seats, as the concert is scheduled to start in 10 minutes. Imagine our surprise when we see a line of people, 4 or 5 across, stretching all the way to the other corner of the stadium. We get in line and wonder why it doesn't seem to be moving and what this means for the concert's start time. After waiting about 40 minutes without moving very far, we decide to be line jumpers as most of the others before us have already done, and move to the front of the stadium where we join the throng of people attempting to enter and take a few pictures of the line along the way. By 8:15 we have gained access to the building and have found our seats. We think that maybe the concert might start by 8:30, but aren't very hopeful, given the state of the line outside. Around 8:45, someone walks by in the row ahead of us, saying that he has heard it will start at 9:30. We wait, somewhat dismayed by the prospect, as everyone but Heather has to work in the morning. I am not looking forward to the 2-hour drive back to Saginaw at this point, especially since I've heard that the concert features a 2-hour set list. We continue to wait.

From Madonna Concert

From Madonna Concert

At about 9:20, the giant "M"s to either side of the stage begin to glow pink and the concert is on. Madonna does not look 50 - she is amazingly toned, and I wish I have half of her energy. She sings and dances for almost all of the 2-hour show, barring time for a few costume changes. Her backup dancers are just as awesome. By the time the concert is over, Heather proclaims it the best she's been to. It definitely makes my top 10 favorites, but the 2-hour wait for it to start tarnishes the experience a bit.

From Madonna Concert

Once the concert finishes, we patiently wait our turn to file out of the arena, coming to the conclusion that Ford Field doesn't have very good crowd control plans in place, as we stand at the end of our aisle waiting to ascend the stairs for at least 15 minutes. Once we are finally up the stairs, it's better. In light of the crowds making their way in the direction of the PeopleMover stadium, we decide to walk back to Greektown. It's not a bad walk - probably only about 3/4 of a mile, and we make it back to the casino around midnight. Hugs are exchanged, and Kate and Kevin head for their car and home, while Heather and I decide to hit the casino for a few minutes to allow the traffic to clear out before heading northward.

After about a half hour, we are ready to leave. We trek back to the car, which won't start. It seems the interior light stayed on - I'm not sure if a seatbelt caught in the door or what, and the battery is dead. We go down to the attendant's station, where the lady in the booth tells us that they don't have cables and can't give anyone a jump, but gives us the number for a towing company that can help us. I call them, only to find out that their parking garage truck is not working at present, so they can't make it up to the third floor. We head back down to the booth, but they don't have any other phone numbers for us to try. We decide to go back over to the casino in search of a phone book. On the way over, we see two men and a lady walking back to the garage. Heather asks if they have a set of jumper cables, and they think they do. We follow them to their car, and we're in luck - he has a set. They drive up to the third floor and park next to Aunt Rose's car. I pop the hood, and luckily the two batteries are not so far away that the cables won't stretch. They hook up the cables and turn on their car, and a few minutes later, we are on our way. By 1:00 we're on I-75 heading north. By 2:45, I drop Heather off at her house, after a mostly uneventful trip, with the exception of a deer coming onto the road in front of us, then changing its mind and turning around. I take Aunt Rose's car to her house, as mine is now home for me, and, having waited up for me although I told her not to worry, she drops me off at my house. I fall into bed, exhausted, but having had a great time.

That's all for this story. I know there will be more. Some I will share here, some I will keep to myself. Some may end up in my scrapbook, others just as a folder on my hard drive, or a memory locked in a corner of my mind. But all will affect me in some way. Thanks for letting me share and have a great week.