I’ll try to make this as short as possible but it’s going to be really hard, I'm even leaving out tons of details!:
I won the VIP contest and drove all the way to Ohio to see Daughtry It was about an 8 hour drive from Michigan where I live. Since you can only bring one guest I invited my sister along. We map quested the Ohio State fair and almost took a wrong turn about ten times because my sister gets a little confused with her left and rights. So the day of the concert we walked to the fair from our hotel room and met the lady at the front and told her that our names were suppose to be on the will call list. She looked through the paper 3 times and finally said that my name wasn’t on it. Quickly after we got the manager and he was nice enough to let us in the fair for free. He told us that our tickets for the Daughtry concert should be waiting for us at the box office. So right away we went to the box office. When the lady at the box office told me that my name wasn’t on the list again, I felt tears welling up in my eyes and I was so scared that I wasn’t going to get a seat. As we waited outside for a little while I got to the point of just wanting any seat at all, I didn’t care if it was the worst seat in the whole arena. To be honest if they didn’t find a seat for me I would have stood outside the building and rocked it up all by myself with all the people passing by pointing and thinking I was a complete psycho, I didn’t care. I was just happy to be there! After waiting around a while we went back inside the lady told me she still hadn’t heard what was going on with our tickets. Since I thought a head and figured that with my luck something like this would definitely happen to me, I printed out all the e-mails that Daughtry official had sent me before I left Michigan. The lady asked me if I needed the e-mails, I told her she could do whatever she wanted with them as long as I got into the concert. Soon after a man who looked to be quite in a hurry walked up to the crowd of people and asked,” Is Emily here.” I said I’m right here as I waved my hand in the air. The man looked at me and then said,” follow me, here are your tickets.” As he handed me the tickets, I was relived that I wouldn’t have to stand outside of the arena and rock it up with Daughtry all by myself, I would actually get to rock it up in the arena. I was full of pure joy. The man then started walking extremely fast towards the front of the stage. All I was thinking was… oh my gosh he’s seating us and we are going to have amazing seats. Once we got up to the first front rows I started slowing down thinking that he was going to turn around any minute and tell us to sit down. But he didn’t. He walked past the first row, past the stage, and out the door. I was so confused. I knew that I won the VIP but I knew that I didn’t win a meet and greet. I won a signed poster instead (which is amazingly awesome I must add )-- We walked past the bus and into the trailer out back. I was in such shock I didn’t know what to do with myself. I wanted to jump up and down and scream and wave my hands in the air because that was definitely what I was doing inside my head, but I didn’t because I knew that I would look quite weird since it was just daughtry, the manager, and us. I managed to control my excitement enough but…The only thing that would come out of my mouth was, “ oh my gosh I have to get a picture no one back home is ever going to believe this!” The man standing by the door then explained that we weren’t allowed to take pictures. At first it was a HUGE let down, but then I wasn’t let down at all because that is impossible when you are standing in a trailer with Daughtry a foot away from you. The man then handed me a picture of Daughtry so that they could all sign it. I took the picture and happily explained that I already had a signed poster but It didn’t matter because you simply can’t get enough of Daughtry! The man laughed and I passed him by and walked right up to Chris. He was sitting at the table waiting for me to hand him something to sign but I didn’t hand him anything to sign because I knew that I would never get a chance like this ever again. I said, “Chris I know that you have a lot of diehard fans out there that probably chase after your bus, but on august 15th 2006, American Idols Live tour in Grand Rapids Michigan, I was the girl in the pink shirt who chased after your bus and you blew me a kiss and I fell on the ground crying and laughing and making a fool of myself. You and Ace were laughing.” Chris paused while he was thinking and said, “wow that was a long time ago… but I think I do remember that.” The guy that met us at the door then approached me and said, “ Ok I’ll take your picture.” I was overwhelmed with excitement. I thought back on how many times I had joked about getting a real picture with Chris Daughtry to everyone back home. Then Chris and the whole band got up. Chris walked around the table and stood right in front of my sister and I. My sister was standing in front of me and I watched as Chris Daughtry hugged my sister. Then he turned to hug me. Before he hugged me the only thing that was going through my mind was, …”UM CAN THIS ACTUALLY HAPPEN?.. I’M GOING TO HUG CHRIS DAUGHTRY!!! AHHHH!! Chris asked where we were coming from and he was surprised when we explained that we came from Ludington Michigan. He said, “ You came all the way here from Michigan!?” I answered by saying, “ Of course….. you are Chris Daughtry!!!” He smiled and we turned around to take a picture. My sister stood by Chris and J.P stood on the other side of Chris. I was thinking, “ This is a once in a lifetime chance I have to stand by Chris!”… well I thought that I was thinking it, but then I realized that I said it when Chris smiled, moved over, held out his arm, and said, “ here you go.” I stood in between Chris and J.P as the man snapped our picture. After the picture was taken I could tell that all of them were in a hurry so some of them started to leave the trailer. Chris asked where we were sitting, and we explained that we just got our tickets and we weren’t sure at all. He said that he would look for us. I thanked Chris for everything and we talked to him for a little bit longer. Then he gave my sister and I one more hug good bye. We left the trailer and hurried to find our seats. Our seats weren’t bad at all! They were about 10 to 15 rows back diagonal to the stage. Day of fire played first, and they were awesome! When they were done my sister noticed that no one was sitting in the front row. She turned to me and said, “ Emily no one is sitting up there lets just go sit there.” At first I said no because I didn’t want to get kicked out. But then I thought, “ I already met Chris Daughtry and the whole band, what do I have to loose.” So we walked up front and talked to the security guards. After a lot of pleading and smooth talking they finally said that we could sit wherever we wanted but if someone came to claim their seats we would have to move. We happily agreed and ran all the way to the front of the arena, and sat directly in front of Chris’s microphone. We said a short prayer that no one would come to claim the seats that we were sitting in and sat and waited so full of excitement that I could barely stand it! Daughtry finally came out and started performing! I was ecstatic.. I couldn’t even believe that it was happening, nothing this good ever happens to me!!! Through out the show as I was jumping up and down screaming Chris would point at me and I would start screaming louder and jump up and down even more than before. I had so much fun. The security guard moved right in front of me though. Anytime I would get to close to the stage he would push me. I thought it was hilarious because If I really was a psycho stalker who the security guard should be keeping an eye on, why would I be drawing so much attention to myself. My sister and I got some AMAZING pictures of Chris and the whole band. Once during the show Chris threw his guitar pick at me but since it was so small and so dark I didn’t catch it nor did I ever find it. Another time Chris threw the cap to his water to me, but my hands were so sweaty it bounced right out of my hands. Of course I dove on the ground after it, but it was dark and some little girl stole it from me. But it’s ok because Joey threw his drumstick to my sister and she caught it and gave it to me! The concert was AMAZING!!! Daughtry is AMAZING!!! After the concert my sister and I along with a bunch of other people waited by the fence to see if the band members would come out. J.P came out and I talked to him. He recognized me right away as being the crazy girl in the front row. I tried to get a picture with him, but I couldn’t because of the crazy prison fence that was between us. Instead I just held his hands over the fence and told him how awesome he was. Joey came out and I talked to him for about a rough 5 minutes. Joey explained that he couldn’t see who he was talking to because of the black netting that was zip tied to the fence. I then lifted myself up over the fence so that he could see me. I tried to get a picture with him but it was nearly impossible. So when Chris came out to sign autographs, I took it into my own hands to break three zip ties so that I would be able to talk to Chris through the fence without cutting myself on the crazy spikes! When Chris came by I just stated the facts, “Chris I ripped down this crazy black netting so that I can see you through the fence.” He laughed, looked up and said, “ Oh there you are,…. HEY!,….. I saw you earlier didn’t I….. and you were in the front row!” For once in my whole life I was actually speechless, Chris Daughtry actually recognized me!!! My sister and I explained that those really weren’t our seats at all. Chris laughed and said, “way to go, way to make the move!” Then He was bombarded with people trying to get autographs and I felt bad for him, so I stopped talking to him because I didn’t want to bother him. When he started walking back by after signing autographs, I lifted myself over the fence and said, “Bye Chris!!” He looked up, smiled, pointed right at me and winked! I left the fair that night so overly happy I couldn’t even sleep. It was the best day of my life!!!! But it’s a funny thing because the best day of my life was fallowed with the worst day of my life..................
So on the drive home to Michigan the next day the brakes went out on my car, and my sister and I almost hit by a semi truck head on. I had to then drive my car 25 miles an hour on a 75 mile an hour highway so I could take my car to a shop and get the brakes fixed. I called my boss and told him that I would be late for work since I was suppose to be at work in 2 minutes and we were not even half way home yet. After a 4 hour wait I dished over $500 to the man who fixed my brakes and we started home. An hour later my car overheated and we pulled over on the side of the road. A man who looked like he could be a dateline child molester stopped and asked us if we needed a ride 5 TIMES!!! When my sister and I finally made it clear that we would not be taking a ride from a guy who we don’t know, in a town that we don’t know, with dead cell phones he finally left. My sister then tried to move my car farther off the highway due to cars almost hitting my car which was now parked on the side of the highway, but when she tried to turn my car on…. it wouldn’t start. A police officer then stopped and called a tow truck. After waiting in a police car for 45 minutes, I had to tow my car for over 44 miles, and pay $3 dollars a mile. We then found out that the battery on my car was dead due to my brake lights being stuck on from when the shop fixed my brakes earlier. I then called my boss and told him that I wouldn’t make it to work that day. Then I went to another car shop and paid another $135 to have someone else fix the overheating problem with my car, and the problem with my brake lights. Since I had no money at this time to buy food the manager at the shop told me that he would buy me food. Thinking he was just being nice I agreed. But…when we were at the restaurant his wife called him and he awkwardly said, “ Oh it’s my wife, can’t pick that up now I’m busy!!!” At this point I felt disgusting simply wanted to run home. When my car was FINALLY finished the same guy hugged me goodbye AGAINST MY OWN WILL and told me to call him. CREEPY! I pushed him away, got in my car, and was full of so much anger and confusion I almost ran him over. I then started to drive to work already late, and found out an hour later that the man had not fixed my car at all…. due to the fact that it was overheating again, and to make matter worse I was LOST in a BIG city which I am definitely not use to at all!! But then.. I blared Daughtry through my car speakers and everything was better, I remembed what happened the night before, and even though I knew I have to go in debt to buy a car, I was happy! I stopped crying and forced myself to drive all the way home with the heater on, when it was 92 degrees outside to cool down my engine. I don't think I've ever been that hot in my entire life!!! I finally arrived home only to go to workfor 6 hours with no sleep at all. I tell you the truth.. even after all that…… IT WAS ALL WORTH IT!!! COMPLETELY WORTH IT!!! THANK YOU DAUGHTRY YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING!!!!! !!!!!!
Home > Thank you Daughtry!!!!!!! You saved me from going insane!
Thank you Daughtry!!!!!!! You saved me from going insane!
I’ll try to make this as short as possible but it’s going to be really hard, I'm even leaving out tons of details!:
I won the VIP contest and drove all the way to Ohio to see Daughtry It was about an 8 hour drive from Michigan where I live. Since you can only bring one guest I invited my sister along. We map quested the Ohio State fair and almost took a wrong turn about ten times because my sister gets a little confused with her left and rights. So the day of the concert we walked to the fair from our hotel room and met the lady at the front and told her that our names were suppose to be on the will call list. She looked through the paper 3 times and finally said that my name wasn’t on it. Quickly after we got the manager and he was nice enough to let us in the fair for free. He told us that our tickets for the Daughtry concert should be waiting for us at the box office. So right away we went to the box office. When the lady at the box office told me that my name wasn’t on the list again, I felt tears welling up in my eyes and I was so scared that I wasn’t going to get a seat. As we waited outside for a little while I got to the point of just wanting any seat at all, I didn’t care if it was the worst seat in the whole arena. To be honest if they didn’t find a seat for me I would have stood outside the building and rocked it up all by myself with all the people passing by pointing and thinking I was a complete psycho, I didn’t care. I was just happy to be there! After waiting around a while we went back inside the lady told me she still hadn’t heard what was going on with our tickets. Since I thought a head and figured that with my luck something like this would definitely happen to me, I printed out all the e-mails that Daughtry official had sent me before I left Michigan. The lady asked me if I needed the e-mails, I told her she could do whatever she wanted with them as long as I got into the concert. Soon after a man who looked to be quite in a hurry walked up to the crowd of people and asked,” Is Emily here.” I said I’m right here as I waved my hand in the air. The man looked at me and then said,” follow me, here are your tickets.” As he handed me the tickets, I was relived that I wouldn’t have to stand outside of the arena and rock it up with Daughtry all by myself, I would actually get to rock it up in the arena. I was full of pure joy. The man then started walking extremely fast towards the front of the stage. All I was thinking was… oh my gosh he’s seating us and we are going to have amazing seats. Once we got up to the first front rows I started slowing down thinking that he was going to turn around any minute and tell us to sit down. But he didn’t. He walked past the first row, past the stage, and out the door. I was so confused. I knew that I won the VIP but I knew that I didn’t win a meet and greet. I won a signed poster instead (which is amazingly awesome I must add )-- We walked past the bus and into the trailer out back. I was in such shock I didn’t know what to do with myself. I wanted to jump up and down and scream and wave my hands in the air because that was definitely what I was doing inside my head, but I didn’t because I knew that I would look quite weird since it was just daughtry, the manager, and us. I managed to control my excitement enough but…The only thing that would come out of my mouth was, “ oh my gosh I have to get a picture no one back home is ever going to believe this!” The man standing by the door then explained that we weren’t allowed to take pictures. At first it was a HUGE let down, but then I wasn’t let down at all because that is impossible when you are standing in a trailer with Daughtry a foot away from you. The man then handed me a picture of Daughtry so that they could all sign it. I took the picture and happily explained that I already had a signed poster but It didn’t matter because you simply can’t get enough of Daughtry! The man laughed and I passed him by and walked right up to Chris. He was sitting at the table waiting for me to hand him something to sign but I didn’t hand him anything to sign because I knew that I would never get a chance like this ever again. I said, “Chris I know that you have a lot of diehard fans out there that probably chase after your bus, but on august 15th 2006, American Idols Live tour in Grand Rapids Michigan, I was the girl in the pink shirt who chased after your bus and you blew me a kiss and I fell on the ground crying and laughing and making a fool of myself. You and Ace were laughing.” Chris paused while he was thinking and said, “wow that was a long time ago… but I think I do remember that.” The guy that met us at the door then approached me and said, “ Ok I’ll take your picture.” I was overwhelmed with excitement. I thought back on how many times I had joked about getting a real picture with Chris Daughtry to everyone back home. Then Chris and the whole band got up. Chris walked around the table and stood right in front of my sister and I. My sister was standing in front of me and I watched as Chris Daughtry hugged my sister. Then he turned to hug me. Before he hugged me the only thing that was going through my mind was, …”UM CAN THIS ACTUALLY HAPPEN?.. I’M GOING TO HUG CHRIS DAUGHTRY!!! AHHHH!! Chris asked where we were coming from and he was surprised when we explained that we came from Ludington Michigan. He said, “ You came all the way here from Michigan!?” I answered by saying, “ Of course….. you are Chris Daughtry!!!” He smiled and we turned around to take a picture. My sister stood by Chris and J.P stood on the other side of Chris. I was thinking, “ This is a once in a lifetime chance I have to stand by Chris!”… well I thought that I was thinking it, but then I realized that I said it when Chris smiled, moved over, held out his arm, and said, “ here you go.” I stood in between Chris and J.P as the man snapped our picture. After the picture was taken I could tell that all of them were in a hurry so some of them started to leave the trailer. Chris asked where we were sitting, and we explained that we just got our tickets and we weren’t sure at all. He said that he would look for us. I thanked Chris for everything and we talked to him for a little bit longer. Then he gave my sister and I one more hug good bye. We left the trailer and hurried to find our seats. Our seats weren’t bad at all! They were about 10 to 15 rows back diagonal to the stage. Day of fire played first, and they were awesome! When they were done my sister noticed that no one was sitting in the front row. She turned to me and said, “ Emily no one is sitting up there lets just go sit there.” At first I said no because I didn’t want to get kicked out. But then I thought, “ I already met Chris Daughtry and the whole band, what do I have to loose.” So we walked up front and talked to the security guards. After a lot of pleading and smooth talking they finally said that we could sit wherever we wanted but if someone came to claim their seats we would have to move. We happily agreed and ran all the way to the front of the arena, and sat directly in front of Chris’s microphone. We said a short prayer that no one would come to claim the seats that we were sitting in and sat and waited so full of excitement that I could barely stand it! Daughtry finally came out and started performing! I was ecstatic.. I couldn’t even believe that it was happening, nothing this good ever happens to me!!! Through out the show as I was jumping up and down screaming Chris would point at me and I would start screaming louder and jump up and down even more than before. I had so much fun. The security guard moved right in front of me though. Anytime I would get to close to the stage he would push me. I thought it was hilarious because If I really was a psycho stalker who the security guard should be keeping an eye on, why would I be drawing so much attention to myself. My sister and I got some AMAZING pictures of Chris and the whole band. Once during the show Chris threw his guitar pick at me but since it was so small and so dark I didn’t catch it nor did I ever find it. Another time Chris threw the cap to his water to me, but my hands were so sweaty it bounced right out of my hands. Of course I dove on the ground after it, but it was dark and some little girl stole it from me.
But it’s ok because Joey threw his drumstick to my sister and she caught it and gave it to me! The concert was AMAZING!!! Daughtry is AMAZING!!! After the concert my sister and I along with a bunch of other people waited by the fence to see if the band members would come out. J.P came out and I talked to him. He recognized me right away as being the crazy girl in the front row. I tried to get a picture with him, but I couldn’t because of the crazy prison fence that was between us. Instead I just held his hands over the fence and told him how awesome he was. Joey came out and I talked to him for about a rough 5 minutes. Joey explained that he couldn’t see who he was talking to because of the black netting that was zip tied to the fence. I then lifted myself up over the fence so that he could see me. I tried to get a picture with him but it was nearly impossible. So when Chris came out to sign autographs, I took it into my own hands to break three zip ties so that I would be able to talk to Chris through the fence without cutting myself on the crazy spikes! When Chris came by I just stated the facts, “Chris I ripped down this crazy black netting so that I can see you through the fence.” He laughed, looked up and said, “ Oh there you are,…. HEY!,….. I saw you earlier didn’t I….. and you were in the front row!” For once in my whole life I was actually speechless, Chris Daughtry actually recognized me!!! My sister and I explained that those really weren’t our seats at all. Chris laughed and said, “way to go, way to make the move!” Then He was bombarded with people trying to get autographs and I felt bad for him, so I stopped talking to him because I didn’t want to bother him. When he started walking back by after signing autographs, I lifted myself over the fence and said, “Bye Chris!!” He looked up, smiled, pointed right at me and winked! I left the fair that night so overly happy I couldn’t even sleep. It was the best day of my life!!!! But it’s a funny thing because the best day of my life was fallowed with the worst day of my life..................
So on the drive home to Michigan the next day the brakes went out on my car, and my sister and I almost hit by a semi truck head on. I had to then drive my car 25 miles an hour on a 75 mile an hour highway so I could take my car to a shop and get the brakes fixed. I called my boss and told him that I would be late for work since I was suppose to be at work in 2 minutes and we were not even half way home yet. After a 4 hour wait I dished over $500 to the man who fixed my brakes and we started home. An hour later my car overheated and we pulled over on the side of the road. A man who looked like he could be a dateline child molester stopped and asked us if we needed a ride 5 TIMES!!! When my sister and I finally made it clear that we would not be taking a ride from a guy who we don’t know, in a town that we don’t know, with dead cell phones he finally left. My sister then tried to move my car farther off the highway due to cars almost hitting my car which was now parked on the side of the highway, but when she tried to turn my car on…. it wouldn’t start. A police officer then stopped and called a tow truck. After waiting in a police car for 45 minutes, I had to tow my car for over 44 miles, and pay $3 dollars a mile. We then found out that the battery on my car was dead due to my brake lights being stuck on from when the shop fixed my brakes earlier. I then called my boss and told him that I wouldn’t make it to work that day. Then I went to another car shop and paid another $135 to have someone else fix the overheating problem with my car, and the problem with my brake lights. Since I had no money at this time to buy food the manager at the shop told me that he would buy me food. Thinking he was just being nice I agreed. But…when we were at the restaurant his wife called him and he awkwardly said, “ Oh it’s my wife, can’t pick that up now I’m busy!!!” At this point I felt disgusting simply wanted to run home. When my car was FINALLY finished the same guy hugged me goodbye AGAINST MY OWN WILL and told me to call him. CREEPY! I pushed him away, got in my car, and was full of so much anger and confusion I almost ran him over. I then started to drive to work already late, and found out an hour later that the man had not fixed my car at all…. due to the fact that it was overheating again, and to make matter worse I was LOST in a BIG city which I am definitely not use to at all!! But then.. I blared Daughtry through my car speakers and everything was better, I remembed what happened the night before, and even though I knew I have to go in debt to buy a car, I was happy! I stopped crying and forced myself to drive all the way home with the heater on, when it was 92 degrees outside to cool down my engine. I don't think I've ever been that hot in my entire life!!! I finally arrived home only to go to workfor 6 hours with no sleep at all. I tell you the truth.. even after all that…… IT WAS ALL WORTH IT!!! COMPLETELY WORTH IT!!! THANK YOU DAUGHTRY YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING!!!!! !!!!!!