BEST DAY EVER!!!!!!!

Oh. My. God. Ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod!!!!! OOOOOOHHHHHHH my God!!!!!! Yesterday was, undeniably, undoubtedly, no contest, the BEST DAY EVER!!!!!!!!

So I was waiting in line with Stefanie for 2 1/2 hours! Crazy, right? But so totally worth it! Because.... we were going to meet Alex Meraz & Kiowa Gordon!!!! They play Paul & Embry of the wolf pack in New Moon. It was so cool! But let me start from the beginning. (By "the beginning", I mean the interesting parts.)

So Stefanie and I are just standing here in a parking garage, trying to get a grip on our emotions, when suddenly we see some people with cameras come along. We were kind of confused, and screamed a lot when the camera pointed in our direction, but it was nothing special. Out of nowhere, BAM! The mother ship arrives! Our local NBC news station had just pulled up. The camera man was walking around, and my mom mentioned that Stefanie and I would make good people to interview. So when the reporter came around, she interviewed us! Stefanie and I were on TV!!! A whole bunch of people we knew told us later that they saw us!

So we were waiting in line or whatever, and I was still pretty excited that I was gonna be on television, but way more excited that I was going to meet Kiowa & Alex! Stef and I met these nice girls in line named Sam, Taty, and Tabatha. Sam had met tons of the stars already, and another even had a picture of her hugging Kellan Lutz on her phone! (Words cannot describe my jealousy at this.)

Eventually, we got toward the front of the line, and I got really fidgety. What was I possibly going to say? Then we got let past the initial line, and we were in the mall!!!! I was shouting my thanks to God, for granting me this beautiful moment which many don't get to experience in their lives. When we were let inside the store, I was all but on quivering on the ground crying. Superhuman strength kept me on my feet with dry eyes. Suddenly, Sam looks around the rack, and she says, really excitedly, in a voice only Twilight fangirls can achieve: "I can see them!" I looked where she was looking....

And there they were.

I saw Alex Meraz first, although I was aware that Kiowa was next to him. In that instant second that I first saw them, words cannot describe what I was feeling. It was completely surreal. It was, like, he had just stepped away from the magazine pages and the computer screen and the TV commercials, and he was a person. This was, of course, before I saw Kiowa, and my heart attack doubled. I looked away, and I had to look again. But they were still there! Once they were no longer untouchable stars, now that they were right there in front of me. It all totally threw sensibility away. Nothing made sense anymore. And you know what? I didn't care. I didn't care about anything that brought me up to that point in time, I didn't care about anything that was going to happen after that. In fact, I became nearly inadequate. I was like, wait... what's happening? Is this real? But I couldn't even take a step back to confirm it. It was all so heartbreakingly real, I almost collapsed.

I was handed a wolf pack poster of New Moon, and Stefanie and I were let in toward the autograph table! I have no clue what happened then. No one else was touching them, they were just getting their autographs and leaving. One of my only thoughts were, I have to touch them. Make physical contact. Promise myself that this is real.

Stefanie got their autograph and handed them the picture she drew for them and a song I wrote (which, mind you, was sealed away in a envelope, it was so embarrassing, I don't even want to think about it). And then it was my turn.

A person who worked there took my poster and handed it to Kiowa, and I realized in some part of my brain that I had to say something. So, here I am, just standing there, smiling like a moron, like, "Hi! It's nice to meet you!" And Kiowa smiled and said, "Hi, thanks for coming out." And I'm 99% sure I said something incoherent after that, like "Gah". And then I remembered my physical contact plan, and so I stuck out my hand. AND KIOWA GORDON SHOOK IT!!!!!!!!!!!! Before I was finished processing this, Alex had my poster and he was signing it. So I said the exact same thing, still smiling stupidly, babbling like an idiot, and he smiled at me and said "Thanks". I stuck out my hand again, and ALEX MERAZ SHOOK MY HAND!!!!!!!!

I got my poster back and I was stumbling out of the store, laughing giddily to myself. Now that I think of it, I probably looked like a crazy person. My hand was still tingling from their touch! For as long as I live, I NEVER, EVER want to forget how shaking their hands felt. Their hands were big, and strong, and warm. I run pretty warm myself, and they felt warm to me. Their handshake was perfect. They may very well have forgotten all about me, considering the next location for the cast tour, and they might have let go of my hand yesterday when they released it. But me? I still haven't let go. I've been holding on so tightly, you wouldn't imagine. I close my eyes and replay those moments, just so I'll never forget. I won't let go for a while yet.

Dadeland County public schools stopped me because they saw that I was freaking out, and asked me to freak out on camera. I was like, "Sure, easy enough." I mean, really, I had touched them, gotten their autographs, only a few moments ago! I was on full-on freak-out mode!

The Q&A session was loud, I didn't have a good view, and I couldn't see much. BUT! At the end, Alex & Kiowa were throwing things into the audience, and I couldn't really see what it was. But then Alex came and threw them over on our side of the audience, and I saw that they were cards. Pfft, I DOVE at that thing. People were scrambling after the celebrity-infused cards, but I got one! It was a New Moon trading card, as it turns out! That Alex Meraz touched!

So, if that's not the BEST DAY EVER, I don't know what is!!!!

Love,
Patty ♥♪☼$