So Long Summer Jam, Indianapolis 
August 29, 2003
by SmittenMusicLover

So, I meet Buck at her house but before we leave I make her get in my car so she can experience the amp and subwoofers my hubby bought me. Yes, I'm spoiled...LOL. "One Heart Too Many" starts to play and I pull into her garage. We sit there for a minute or so and every once in a while I hear "oooh", "ooooo", or a giggle. I turn it down and smile over at her, "Now you know why I like to drive so much," and we both laugh then get out of my car.

We start on our road trip and it's not long before we both realize we are sighing at the same exact parts of J's songs which sends into a bout of giggles. At some point I decide to see how many truckers I can get to honk at us and whenever we weren't talking I'd make the universal "honk your horn" signal and every trucker I signaled honked his horn. Hey! I never said I was mature ALL the time....LOL.

We pass cornfield after cornfield and then......it starts to rain. No, wait.....down pour is more like it. We couldn't see 10 feet in front of our faces. I look over to my side of the road and there's a semi coming right at us! I scream and throw my arms in the air b/c I'm a direct descendant of Wonder Woman and I would be able to stop the semi from rolling on us with just my arms.....LOL.

We make it through the rain, the cornfields, and manage to navigate our way through Indianapolis to meet Meg at her hotel. Lots of EEEEEEEEEEEEE'ing and hugging and "Oh my God! I can't believe we're going to meet Justin".

We make our way to meet up with the other girls. Cin and Shelley were waiting for us at Subway and soon after we arrived, Kyana showed up. What a pleasure it was meeting Shelley and Kyana! I always get worried about meeting people from the boards b/c just like in cyber world, my mouth tends to get away from me in the real world too. Especially around these women who just encourage the jutter talk...LOL.

JIMM hasn't shown up and we're all wondering where she is. Meg and I take a potty break and end up using the executive bathrooms b/c we couldn't find the public ones. All I have to say about those is.....YUCK!! The public ones were probably cleaner. On the way back to Subway we pass a flower shop and decide to get a half dozen pink roses for Justin. Meg signs the card "Justin, With Love from the Ya Ya's". The woman wraps the flowers in purple paper (without us even asking) and we go back to the tables.

JIMM finally calls and the group heads out to Monument Circle. As we're walking over JIMM calls again to tell us he's doing a sound check. Some ran, others did not. We get to the stage but Justin is already done. I hear a quiet "Where is he? Where is he?" as Buck bobs up and down trying to find him. I take a hold of her shirt and walk her over to the far side of the stage and point, "There". "Holy crap! He's right there! Hmmmm, can I make it over this barricade and through the security guards without bringing attention to myself?"

Buck asks one of the people from the radio station if Chris is around and he goes to get Chris. Buck and Chris talk while I just stare at the lovely sight of Justin relaxing on the steps of the monument. Chris is about to walk away when I reach out and grab his arm. "Will you take these to him so I don't have to carry them around until the meet and greet?" Chris takes the flowers and says "Sure". He walks over to Justin and hands him the flowers. He looks up at me and Buck, smiles, then reads the card. He looks up again with a huge grin on his face and we smile back. A couple minutes later the rest of the gang comes over to where we are and Meg sends food over to Justin. I finally get to meet JIMM and Sheridan and we all stand around and talk, talk, talk.

At some point we decide we need to sit in air conditioning and have some drinks. We find a bar and let loose. They weren't even sitting people in the general vicinity of us.....we were having a good time!!! Shelley pulls out the card and we all nominate Meg to sign it and give it to Justin. I told her she should add a little message and she does.....hee hee!

Fast forward to Justin! It started raining while the previous act was on so I pretty much gave up what little hope I had of looking nice for the meet and greet. Justin sounded wonderful! That voice just has a way of sailing through the air and caressing each and every person with it's soulful tone. I can't take my eyes off him....he demands your attention and commands the stage like a true performer should.

He starts to intro the third song. "Oh....my.....God! He's gonna do 'Doin' Things'....OMG!! I'm gonna burst out in spontaneous o's any minute now. Keep it together, girl. Dayum!! He just rolled his hips....___________________"

After "Sorry", Justin leaves the stage and we make a bee line for the radio station. He does a live broadcast for the station as they let some of us in. We're all standing in line and waiting for him to come out. I look down and realize that not only am I soaking wet but my hair is all over the place. I've got a lot of hair and when it gets unruly....watch out!! I give up on trying to make myself look presentable. "Doesn't matter if it's your worst day or best day....it's not like he's going to take one look at you and say, "There you are! I have to have you now!" Live in the now!"

He comes out and sits in the chair behind the table. OMG! I was laughing so hard! It wasn't a folding chair, it was a lobby chair. When he sat down it was much lower than he anticipated and he kinda fell into it. Then he looks up and his chin is just above the table. He starts to laugh and puts his arms up on the table as if to say, "Okay...I can handle this." Justin spent the whole meet and greet sitting on the arm of the chair...what a guy!!

Meg goes first and gives him the boxer shorts. He holds them up to look at them and Buck says, "We want you to model them for us". He looks over at her and smiles shyly. Then I say, "Yeah! We want a private fashion show." "Dork, dork, dork, dork!" Now he's looking at me and the smile gets bigger as he laughs softly. "OMG! He heard me? Mentally slapping self on forehead". Meg continues to talk with him while he signs stuff for her. Next thing I now she's got her face in his curls....You go Meg!!!

Buck goes next and talks with him while he signs some stuff for her. I've known Buck for a while now and I've never seen her smile as much as she did in those five minutes with Justin.

Now it's my turn. "Don't look into his eyes until you've said what you want to say." I have the Black Beat magazine for him to sign and I lay it on the table. He's smiling, "How are you, baby?" "I'm great!" "oooooohhh, way to dazzle him with your conversational skills!" He looks at the magazine then asks me what magazine it is. I tell him Black Beat as he's finding the cover and he says, "oh". He puts the Sharpie to the magazine then looks up at me, "What's your name, baby?" "Damn it! I looked in his eyes. What's your name? Spit it out!" I laugh and finally say my name. He repeats it to himself three times. "Oh sweet Jesus....my name falling from those lips.....stick a fork in me, I'm done" Then I say, "C'mon, didn't you know that?" He looks up at me and starts laughing with me like it's the funniest thing he's heard all day. "At least I can make him laugh."

I finally remember one of the things I want to tell him. "You were very good on stage tonight". He thanks me. "Oh yeah, the Ya Ya's who couldn't be here today send their love." He's done signing his name. He gets a huge smile on his face, "You guys are sooo sweet! You're the best." "Ha! Sweet?!?!? If you only knew, honey!" He thanks me for driving all that way, I say no problem. Then we talk a little more, don't ask me about what 'cause I'm still stuck on hearing my name three times.

It's time to go so I clasp my hands together and ask for a hug and kiss. "Sure, baby." He gets up from the chair and starts to lean across the table. "Oh no. I'm coming around for this!" "Oh God, you're such a dork! I can't believe you just said that." He meets me half way around the table then wraps his arms around me, kissing me on the cheek as he leans in for the hug. Man! Let me tell you, those lips are as soft as we thought they were! I hug him right back and suddenly I feel a soft blowing on my neck. "Knees going weak. Don't try to walk."