My Valentine...

...was....

(Paul, Kimberly, PHIL VASSAR, me!)

Okay, okay, so my real valentine is pictured below, but how excited was I to run into Phil during a bathroom break!?

(Dana and Rich on the Paramount balcony)

I know I can't tell the story nearly as well as it unfolded, but I'll try. So, this is how it all went down... Kimberly, Paul, Heather, Chuck, Rich and I had a few drinks in the members lounge before the show. During this time we were told that Phil would be coming in to do a "meet and greet". Kimberly and I were pumped! There were only about 10 people in the entire lounge! We took a minute to get the camera ready, shed our coats, fix our hair etc. only to find out that Phil's "meet and greet" was only for fan club members and family. Since Phil is from Lynchburg his mom and sister were there, as well as some friends. Dejected, we went back downstairs and made a pit stop at the bathroom before heading to our seats.

This turned out to be the best move of the night. Kimberly and I used the restrooms first while Rich and Paul held our stuff and then we did a switch-a-roo so the guys could use the restroom. Rich was already in the bathroom while Paul was busy handing off his stuff to Kimberly. The next thing I heard was Kimberly's high pitch scream "PHIL", "PHIL"!!! I looked around and thought to myself "Phil, Phil who?". Duh, it was "the Phil" right in front of us, he entered through a door in between the two restrooms. The next minute was a whirlwind. Kimberly chucked all of her stuff on the floor and by all, I mean ALL--jacket, purse, drink, program, napkins. She quickly found her camera, Paul asked Phil to take a picture with his wife, and then in an instant all three of us were in photograph.

Kimberly made sure Phil knew that she was a Lynchburg native and made some small talk before he rushed off to his fan club upstairs. Judging from the looks of the line, we got much more time with him outside the women's restroom than any of the fan club got. I haven't laughed as loud as I did after this exchange happened. You had to be there to hear the scream from Kimberly and to see all of her stuff scattered about on the floor. A random guy walked by a few minutes later while we still had tears in our eyes from laughing and asked if everything was okay! He probably thought we had been robbed from the look he gave us. Anyhow, Rich was in the bathroom the entire time and missed the meeting completely. For some reason I don't think it bothered him much:)


The itself concert was amazing. We were in the 3rd row, so our new buddy, Phil, was only a few feet away. He is a brilliant song writer, amazing performer and down right funny guy. This was one of the best dates I've been on in a long time:) I love the fact that he sounds just as good, if not better, live in concert. I'd highly recommend seeing him next time he is in the area.

What a wonderful Valentine's Day!