My Mraz Miracle Night

Greetings, my lovely Mraz ladies!

This post may seem a little sudden, I am well aware. I've noticed the lack of activity in our physical blog, although, (as per usual), our personal and social networking contact is flourishing. I'm sorry to say I have in fact been contributing to the problem... my last post was to commemorate my solo in the final choir concert of the school year around JUNE. It wasn't even Jason related! So please know, the following post has been steadily making its way to the front lobe of my brain for awhile now... it just wasn't until tonight when I went on Twitter and saw that one Tristan Prettyman had been awakened to our existence by our darling Christina, and the message went out that Mraz KNEW WHO WE WERE. Its kind of mind boggling, and incredibly hard for me to wrap my mind around. So I thought, what the hell?! Now is the time. Just post already. Here comes the story of my first Jason Mraz concert, and the lengths I went to make it even possible for me to be there on November 12th, 2008.

At the time, I was a few months into my 8th grade year (yeaaah, I know I'm young). I had come across Jason Mraz's music (to my best approximation) earlier that year, through Vh1's top 20 video countdown, or so I thought at the time... see my first post to this blog. I got my hands on all three studio albums, along with the "Jason Mraz Live" album, and began checking the website frequently. Egads! There just so happened to be a tour date coming up in a month or two in my home city of Portland. However, I put it in the back of my mind, surely based on my newly-christened teenage delusion that seats would not be sold out by the time I could get my hands on enough dough to get myself (and of course my loyal mother) tickets to see the show. By the time I had the sudden realization that I had a check from one of my uncles leftover from birthday time that I could use to buy tickets, it was around two weeks before the concert, and tickets were SOLD OUT. Tears fell. Never ever think that they didn't when it comes to me. By now this remarkable man I had spent countless hours of internet time watching an endless sea of clips over had become my favorite musician, and most certainly one of my favorite people out there on Earth. But "sold out" was merely a road-block on the road to the Arlene Shnitzer concert hall to me. After that first tearful night, I began asking around. Were there any tickets to be released the day of the show at the box office? Around how expensive were the average tickets from scalpers? How likely was it that I could get said tickets? And perhaps most important at all, would my mother be willing to make such gambles on the off chance I could see my idol for an hour or two, sacrificing some of her precious time used to watch the pre-recorded episodes of Oprah Tivo'd earlier in the day while she was at work?

The day of the concert arrived, and I still of course had all my priorities straight. I called my mom as soon as I could get to the drama room for practice, and asked her if she would please just let me go and try to get tickets. She had other plans. The classic Portland rainstorm had set in, and she was not in any way interested in standing outside in the rain and cold for an hour trying to find some rare person trying to get rid of their tickets, after struggling for ten minutes to get parking, when she could instead be warm and dry at home with time to eat dinner to boot. I told her that no matter what, I was going, and hung up the phone.

Play practice gets out, I get into the car and she hasn't changed her mind. It's pouring outside, and it's around 5:30, peak rush hour. Of course. I finally convince her to take me, promising we would stay for no more than half an hour, and that if we went home unsuccessful, I'd give her many foot rubs and clean for an hour and a half straight. And so "the night" began. We hit the freeway and got stuck in a patch of traffic about halfway to downtown, and so I just closed my eyes and... meditated? Prayed? I'm not a big pray-er... or even that big of a meditater, but I dug down deep and just wished and wished and wished. The traffic broke through, and we made it downtown. And this is the part I'm most proud of. The rain stopped. There was no trouble whatsoever with parking. As soon as we walked a block to the actual venue, we found fairly good tickets at a very reasonable price, and within 8 minutes of parking the car, I was sitting in my seat waiting for the truly delightful Lisa Hannigan to take the stage. The magic I had been dying to experience live was finally here, right in front of me.

Looking back on this night, I see it as my first tangible experience of seeing the Universe being on my side, and the power of determination. I always associate Jason himself as bringing me hope for my own future because of this night. He's brought me so much really, especially the women of this blog. I don't know where I'd be without some of them. I've truly made some of my best friends out of this place. I don't think I'd be the same person if he'd never been in my life the way he has. And if you do ever read this, Jason, I wish you all the best in your own future and know that on any given day, you'll always have us on your side. We care a whole damn lot. Also, I'm seriously sorry this damn thing was so long. I'm a very emotional being.

All the best, ladies! Hope you enjoyed my little story :) Here's to the future!

Love,
Elise
@LovelyLisey on Twitter