Moments

Since the concert ended last night I've been mulling over in my mind how I would describe it on here. Trying to compose the right words is very hard! This was such an incredible experience starting with hearing the news Monday afternoon and continuing on to the ending notes of the concert last night. A quote that came to mind is: "Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away." Last night was definitely one of those moments. It will be etched in my memory forever. First things first - the picture: That's me and my husband, with Josh in the middle. That's me with my arm around JOSH GROBAN and his arm around me - see his hand on my right shoulder??? Oh my. My heart beats faster just thinking about it!

I had been worried about bringing in my camera - clearly printed on the tickets was "no camera's or recorders" but I also wanted a good picture, so I took my Nikon and crossed my fingers. We went in and security was checking everyone and asked "any cameras, recorders..." and I said "Yes, I have a camera. I won a meet and greet session and I want to take a picture". He said "OK". I was surprised that it was that easy! For the Meet & Greet we had to go to the floor level and were met there by Josh's security guy. It was a very carefully orchestrated event! We (a group of about 10) were led to a backstage area where curtains contained a little area. The security guy gave his instructions: "no hugging or kissing" (rats!), "shake hands, say hello, introduce yourself, autograph one item only and have a picture taken (they had someone take the camera's to take the pictures). We waited a bit and then there he was! He looks younger in person and is smaller than I'd imagined - such a powerful voice comes out of that body! Craig and I happened to be first in line. I had brought with me a scrapbook page I did 4 years ago titled "My Other Men". It was a humourous take on the other men in my life and Josh was one of them. He thought it was funny and signed it "from your other man". LOL! Here is the page, with the autograph (if you click on it, you will be able to read it):

Craig had the Awake CD which he signed too. Then the photo was taken - and that was it. Short, but oh so sweet!

After that we made our way to our seats. The opening performance was by Elew who has a very interesting way of playing the piano! I was very anxious to hear and see Josh sing so found the opening act to be long....finally, at 9pm, the orchestra was playing one of the instrumental pieces and all eyes were fixed on the main stage, when Josh entered from the back of the arena and sang his first few songs on a little raised stage on what would be centre ice. That was very neat! From the very first sounds out of his mouth I was captivated all over again. He actually sounds better live than on CD. He just has the most amazing voice. I know nothing about singing or the technicalities of it - I just know that his voice touches my heart and soul deeply. It is amazing. He sang a variety of songs from all his CD's, including a few of my favourites: February Song, You Raise me up and my absolute favourite, You are Loved. He chatted a bit throughout the show and was funny and down to earth. Since I had my camera I took photos throughout. Most were blurry or just not good due to the lighting - but I just wanted a couple of good ones to scrapbook and I did get that. The first two here are from when he was on the centre stage area (he went back to it a few times throughout the night) and the last one was the main stage - we were further away from there, as you can tell)

The show ended way too soon - I could have listened to him all night. I don't think my feet have touched ground yet. Even today while doing all the things that I do in my ordinary life - grocery shopping, laundry, cleaning - there is still a surreal aura about me. This really happened. I'm still in awe. I don't know what else to say. I don't think I can really convey just what this meant to me. I am so very grateful to everyone involved and want to send some thank you's out:

To Josh Groban (though I know he'll never read this, I'll say it anyway!) You have an incredible gift in your voice and music and the world is a better place because you choose to share it. I can only imagine the sacrifices that go with leading the life of a touring artist, so thank you for doing what you do.

To Lite 95.7 in Edmonton - thank you so much for the opportunity to win the tickets and meet and greet. It was just simply amazing!

And most important of all, to my husband for being so tolerant and patient and understanding of my "other man"!! You're the best and I love you!