one of those days that takes years to live

the boys and the essay contest winner
Originally uploaded by faithful nomad.

today was a very full day.
and given my particular summer, that's saying something.

it began by waking up at the hotel at seven, getting to the somerville at eight. we started setting up everything for the autograph session: the merchandise booths, the Elias booth, the raffle prizes, line control, and the actual place for the boys to sign autographs at the stage. the line to get in for autographs was already running down the block before 8am.

brad was around and enthusiastically greeted my mom and sister; it was a calm spot in the middle of everyone being frantic. we opened the doors to autographs around 10am. i started by helping at the Elias Booth, the idea being that the kids could learn something while waiting in line. but the line was going too slowly, and i instead was recruited to take kids' pictures with the boys. around noon, all the kids in line had their chance and were shuffled up to the balcony for the raffle drawing. MY MOTHER won part of a mural, but she and anne had already left. i told shane to let someone else win, and now some poor kid has to cart home that huge piece of plywood. and probably loves it more than we ever will!

after the raffle, the noon show started and things wound down quickly. brad is playing a show in maine tonight, so some kids left for that. i went to find my family and get some lunch. after we ate, gary picked us up at the hyatt and took us to the airport, where we parted ways. gary and i were there to pick up a friend of his too, so we circled for what ended up being forty minutes looking for jeff!

jeff, gary and i went into the city to show jeff around. he's another good solid southern boy, so i immeidately liked him. we were too late in the day for church already, so we moseyed around boston commons, found some dinner. hamlet was playing, so we caught a little of that - VERY cool, modern play - and walked some more.

we ended up dancing at a reggae bar for a good part of the night after that. i kind of danced a bit with the lead singer :) after heading home, the three of us got some ice cream on the second floor. the rest of the house was empty. no one had called me, so i went to bed without knowing that my team was out at Chili's. they got home around 2:30am, i woke up to say goodbye to ryan and matt (who were leaving at 5 for the airport), and went back to bed.

the two halves of my day could have each been a day in themselves. i was exhausted, but every second was genuine and happy.