"Winner's Write-Up" - Time In The Englewood Bus With Teacher Clay - Part 2 of 2

On Wednesday, we had the first of a two part article about the lucky fan who won the opportunity to go on Clay's bus with him by answering a trivia question correctly. Marge knew that Indonesia was the 4th most populous country in the world and its lucky that she did!

Marge's write-up about her time with Clay is below. As you can see, it was an experience she will not soon, if ever, forget!

Hi Marge here with......the rest of the story.

OK. I originally was not going to buy tickets to go to this show. No lie. But my sweet friend, 18 y/o Ashley begged me to go to the concert because she wanted to shake hands with Clay and for some reason she felt I would be good luck for her. She said I was more concert saavy than she and might know where Clay's bus would be since I had been to so many concerts. LOL I am sorry that in the business of my life I did not email her to firm up plans. I did not see her at the concert or where the buses were. Now, I had to work all that day, so busy. Had no time to change, put on make-up, eat dinner, get directions. Only had time to go home and find all my directions. I then left a half hour later than I had wanted, got to the venue in time for the show to start. I realized I had not had dinner and needed something to tide me over. The only thing they had at the venue was chips or candy bars. I chose a chocolate bar with almonds because I needed protein and carbs having hypoglycemia. I did not think that one out well enough.

My friend Nikki and I settled down for the wonderful concert experience. Clay was amazing and blew everyone away. There was a majority of non-fans at the concert that night! Wow!! The ones seated by me were raving not only about his fantastic talent but said how funny he was. They also said they thoroughly enjoyed themselves and were going out to buy his CD's. The lady next to me kept saying that and the man she was with was laughing and complimenting Clay as well. There were many other Clayversions that night. I know if they see his name in lights again they will definitely come to see him. They said they would. Lol I told them just enough about Clay to impress but not annoy and what CD's they could buy.

Now half way through the concert, I had a thought. I wanted to stand at the bus to shake Clay's hand if I could. I remembered that Candy bar dinner I had and his allergies and said to self "holy cow you better make sure you wash your hands at the end of the concert." This will be important to know for later. So after the concert I met and talked with my pals. God knows I love to talk....and I forgot to wash my hands. By the way it was good to see all of my NE fan friends there to name a few: Sue,Anne Marie, Myrna, Gail, Becky, Joanne, Laurie, Barbara, Lynne, Kym, Karen, Dianne and all the south Jersey CLay fans. If I forgot anyone please forgive me.

So, then out to the bus we all go. I did not want to miss Clay at least to see him, wave and wish him well, so going back in to wash hands was not an option. He came out to shake hands with everyone shortly. And what is so sweet of Clay is that he headed to the end of the line first to shake hands instead of going to the head of the line. After this some of us stayed longer at the buses. OK you all probably have read about what led up to the trivia contest and it's conclusion. ...I tell you I felt like I won the megabucks lottery LOL!!! As a refresher the question I won was what is the 4th most populous country in the world= Indonesia. Now I have to say I had perhaps an unfair advantage with this question...my husband's family are from Indonesia!!! I knew the answer to it but it did not hit me right away. First I thought of Australia. LOL Close but no Cigar. Then it hit me, my hubby and I had talked about this!!!!! Besides the fact that Rick is Indonesian, he loves geography, history and statistics and points these things out to me. That's right! I owe my visit with CLay to my dear sweet hubby!

OK the next thing I knew Jerome was pointing at me and said who said that. I shouted "It was me!!!!" Funny I then I think I asked in disbelief "Me???" Jerome said to me what did you say and I again shouted out Indonesia. He said come with me. Well you can imagine that I was excited. I was in a bit of shock and disbelief. It was like a dream. I walked into the bus and there stood Clay waiting for me. So tall and sweet. He was kind of quiet and serious looking. Like he was at the ready for something. Lord I hope he was ready for what he encountered next. Now I am sorry to say in my excitement my brain went into a different mode. I wanted to be relaxed, sane, calm, collected. I did not want to worry or scare Clay. I did not want to make him nervous. I did not want to weird him out. I had thought of this day. You know we all have. I have thought, what would I want to say to him if I ever got to meet him? I had it all planned out. Well you know what they say about the best laid plans... lets just say all those things came out but not the way I planned. What I wanted was to connect with Clay the person, not the popstar. I wanted to show him care and respect. I wanted him to be at ease as possible with me. Now I know Clay has got to be on guard, he doesn't know me, doesn't know that what he tells me that I won't take it and tell it everywhere or worse yet distort it and tell that everywhere so he has to be on guard. Anyway I at least said Hi Clay. At least. The next thing that came out of my mouth was "Clay I can't touch you". He gave me a puzzled look I think, it could have been fear too, or confusion. Then, I quickly told him about the chocolate candy with nuts I had eaten earlier. I could not think of what to do, my brain was not logical at this point. Also my thoughts and attention were directed to Clay I did not see the sink that was next to me...Dear Clay thanked me for telling him that, and asked me if I would like to wash my hands. I think I said yes. Then he went over to the sink, turned the water on, showed me the soap and pulled the paper towel out a little bit. He has such a servant heart. So gentle, so patient, so polite.

As I was washing my hands I decided to start talking. I knew my time would be limited. I shared with him of my husband's famly being from Indonesia, that his father was a worker on the Bridge over the River Kwai, and after WWII his family emigrated to Holland and then to the US where I met Rick and the rest is history. That we would be married 29 yrs next weekend and that I was taking him to the Williamsport concert. I think that all interested him because he really listened and I think I heard a suprised "Oh" from him. After that I kept thinking of things I wanted to tell him and kept saying there is something else I wanted to tell you. And he let me tell him. At some point I apologized for talking too much. I know he commented lol but for the life of me I can't think what. He did snark on me once. I think it was then when I might have apologized for talking too much. Not sure. Clay did get a word or two in edge-wise and asked me some questions like how many concerts I had been to, was this the first one of this series, and what other ones I was going to. Now his staff was sitting aside to us and do I thank them for being respectful and quiet as I had my time with Clay. I will say that Clay was very patient, attentive, and kind to me. He really listened. I shared about me some. I also tried to convey that I cared about him the person, that I held him in my prayers and thoughts with all concern. That I cared about how he was doing. I hope I did a good enough job of that. I hope he got and believes that. At some point it was time for the experience to end. Clay is intuitive about that but he is gentle and guided me kindly. He asked me what I wanted him to sign and to whom. (I feel so bad I did not properly introduce myself at the first, did not mean to be rude). He gave me a hug then asked if I had a camera to take a picture. I froze a moment to think. YES! I had a camera phone (lucky me a month or so earlier I had lost my other track phone and had to get new one; I decided to get a camera phone) I was kind of flustered and could not remember how to work the thing. Well Clay just offered to help, worked that camera phone as quick as can be, pulled me in cheek to cheek and took the picture of us for me. Then I aplogized and asked if he'd sign one more thing, my Clay Aiken tote bag. And that sweetheart did it without hesitation. I of course thanked him so much for the experience and said goodbye. Walked off that bus a real happy camper. Shared some of my experience with my fan friends. And then drove home the best I could. It wasn't easy.

PS I forgot to add at some point in time Durham decided to be friendly and climb up my leg to get a pet. He is so cute that I completely ignored CLay for a moment or two and paid full attention to him scratching his head. What a sweet little dog. I think he smelled my Penny dog.

What an awesome story. Thanks to Marge for sharing this with all of us. Just reading it, I felt so excited for her. If you are like me, it is such fun to hear the stories of fans who have met Clay and live that experience with them through their stories!

You can also find Marge's story at The Clayboard and send her congratulations at that thread!

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken, A Thousand Different Ways, ATDW, All Is Well, Merry Christmas With Love, Invisible