Atlantic City

So here's the story... I know I've taken too long to tell it.

On Saturday, I drove to Atlantic City to see Carol Burnett. The whole time that I was driving, it wasn't exactly real to me. I had my ticket, I had my hotel reservation, I even had snacks for the 160 mile trip.

It took 4.5 hours because I hit Delaware beach traffic, not once, but three times. But I eventually made it to the hotel room in Pleasantville, just outside of Atlantic City. It wasn't black and white like the movie and I didn't see Tobey Macguire nor Reese Witherspoon. The hotel, The Best Western was AWESOME. It had a full kitchen and a great king size bed.

I arrived around 3pm and got settled in quickly. I grabbed a bite to eat at the Burger King next door and then took a nap. My mom suggested taking a nap so that I would be awake for Carol. I woke up at 5:30, took a shower, and got dressed for the evening. I decided that I would leave at 7pm so that I could walk around the boardwalk a while before the show. At 8pm I went the theatre, the Circus Maximus, which was inside Caesar's Palace. At that point, it still wasn't completely real to me.

Then it happened... the lights went down, the screens came down and the video montage began.



After the montage, Carol emerged from behind the curtain and it finally hit me: I'm in the same room as my childhood hero. I was excited and numb at the same time. Carol was great and funny. She started the show with a tribute to Harvey Korman. He passed away a few weeks ago. He was arguably one of the funniest men on television of all time. I could tell that it was hard, but it was necessary for her to get it out and for us to hear it. I was reading an article afterwards, that it the first time she spoke publicly about his death.

For me, watching Carol on stage was incredible. So many people talked about how she influenced their lives and some people asked questions that I'm sure that Carol is asked all the time. I was sitting next to two guys, Sunny and Dwayne. Dwayne raised his hand and told his story and asked if he could get a hug. Carol told him that he could come backstage after the show.

So during the last few questions of the night, the usher was furiously trying to get Carol's attention so she would call me. Finally, Carol looks over in my direction and I'm the only with an arm raised. Carol looks over and says, "yes ma'am" and points to me. OH BOY, OH BOY, it's my turn, stand up and ask the question... this is what I said to myself. Then out of no where the man in front of me stands up and asks a question. The usher looks at me apologetically and says that she's going to get the mike from him and give it straight to me. OK,OK, it'll be ok...

Then Carol says that it's time to go and the famous closing music starts... I was never so sorry to hear her closing theme song in my life. I didn't get to ask my question :(

After the show and curtain call, Dwayne heads over to the stage to find out where he needs to go to backstage. When we get to security, the guard tells him that he can take one person back with him. He looks at me and Sunny and Sunny tells him to take me backstage with him. I'm forever grateful to Sunny for that because I needed to go backstage to meet Carol. I couldn't envision myself leaving without meeting her.

So we get backstage and for a few minutes, it feels like an eternity... I felt like we were waiting forever. But then Carol emerges and the line starts to move. My turn came and I handed my book to her assistant. After that, Carol tells me to come on over and she gives me a great big hug... well, I hugged her and she hugged me back. All I could say is that I was so happy to finally meet her. I had so much more to tell her, but then she asked me a question: "What is your name?". Once she asked me that, my mind went blank. I could barely get my name out. But I think I played it off well.

I remember taking the picture with her, but it went so fast. I wanted to tell her how much she influenced my life... how my earliest memories are from her watching her show as a child and how watching her show helped me develop my sense of humor. I wanted to tell her that reading her book encouraged me to move through my problems, it helped me through depression as a teenager, and how it gave me the inspiration to write.

Lastly, I wanted to tell her about a passage from the bible that I think epitomizes how many people feel about her. The passage says, "I planted, Apollos watered, but God kept making it grow". In the broadest sense, it talks about how there are things that we do in life that influence people...we plant a seed. The person may or may not decided to act on that seed, sometimes we never know and sometimes, people will come from all around to tell you just how much of an impact you had on them. Saturday was just such a night. Carol got to see first hand the amazing growth of the seedlings she has planted throughout the years. We all had benefitted from her activities in some way or another and we all gave her back that love on Saturday.

Carol sets a good example for all of us. She uses her life to help others and entertain us. I loved being there and loved meeting her even more.