My Dream Chance Encounter

Today, I’m going to share a personal story with you, one that I will never forget…

One year ago today, I met Michael Buble.  I have to say it was one of the greatest nights of my life…sorry hubby!  His adorable looks, his amazing voice, his cute smile, his fabulous eyes…okay, you get the picture!  I love Michael Buble!  I guess my infatuation began after I first heard him perform on The Today Show, some 7 years ago, and my love for him has grown along the way.  As mentioned in this post and this post, his music is extremely soothing and something I can truly relate to, as I grew up listening to Frank Sinatra and watching old musicals on T.V.  Currently owning all of his CDs and having the opportunity to attend two of his concerts in the US, when I heard he was coming to Malaysia last year, I just about fell off my chair at work.

It’s a long story on how we got such amazing seats, not to mention the amount of time it took for me to decide what to wear, (maybe I will publish the entire account someday) but for now, I’m celebrating my one-year anniversary of my dream chance encounter…meeting Michael Buble.  It all started with a concert, oh and my yellow sign…

Okay, picture it – all the lights go down, it’s completely silent with a few girlie screams of anticipation in the background.  A spot light appears on the curtains in the front of the stage with the initials MB waving around.  A faint music begins and the excitement grows.  Colored lights appear and all you can see are the shadows of a band and a “music conductor” leading his fellow musicians.  One set of curtains open and then you hear – DON, DON DON DON DON, DON DON DON, DON, the trombones, then the drums, then a faint silence.  The second set of curtains open suddenly, a man appears in the spotlight, there’s complete silence and then all you can hear is singing…

“Now you say you’re lonely, you’ve cried the whole night through, Well, you can cry me a river, cry me a river
I cried a river over you.”

Well, you don’t need my description…you can live it…

I decided to make a sign for the night listing all the concerts I had attended.  It read:  “FAIRFAX, VA – 2007, TAMPA, FL – 2010, Kuala Lumpur – 2011, Now can I PLEASE have a HUG?!”  Knowing that never in a million years would Michael Buble even notice my sign, I still hoped maybe, by some chance, it would get spotted.  I had to at least give it a shot!  After the first two songs were sung, the house lights came on and I knew this was my chance!  Here goes nothing!

I held up my sign as high as I could and then all of a sudden, Buble stopped talking, turned towards me and said, “What is that?!”  I was the only one in the entire stadium with a sign!!!  He began reading the words aloud and then started to laugh as he said, “Why don’t you come on up here kid, I will sign your sign.”  WHAT?!  I was seriously shaking like a leaf!!!  Did he just ask me to come up to the stage?  In all the chaos, I started walking up to the stage and completely forgot my sign!  When I realized what was happening, I turned around quickly to grab it from my husband and in that split second, it opened the window for a bunch of girls to run up to the stage for his autograph.  Before I knew what was happening, I was being stampeded by little Malaysian girls!  But he looked up, realized what was happening and waved me to come towards him.  He grabbed my sign quickly, signed it, I thanked him and put my hand on his arm (only for a brief second) before walking away.  It all happened so fast, but it was still amazing!

To see the YOUTUBE video of this actual happening, click on the video at the bottom of this posting.  YES, SOMEONE IN THE AUDIENCE WAS FILMING THE ENTIRE THING!!!

After the concert ended, my husband and I joked about driving to the Ritz (where the after party was being held), grabbing a drink to see if we could meet Buble in person.  I thought…never in a million years!  But my husband said, “Come on, it’s on our way home…you never know.”  Thank goodness that I listened to him or our night would have turned out completely different.

We drove up to the Ritz, parked and walked right into the bar.  As I started to sweat with nervousness, I scanned the room and noticed we were surrounded by all of Michael Buble’s band members!  And then, there on the other side of the bar, with his back to us sitting on the couch was…MICHAEL BUBLE!!!  I just smiled to my husband and between my teeth said, “THERE HE IS!”  I could hardly stand it!  I just wanted to run up to him on the couch, jump up and down, hug him and tell him how much I loved him.  “It’s me Michael, the girl with the sign, the girl with the sign, that interrupted your concert.  Please forgive me and give me a hug, already!”  But I had to remain cool and not freak out…we couldn’t get thrown out of here, not before I met him anyway.

After some mingling and much, MUCH waiting, we started to think that maybe we weren’t going to have the opportunity to meet him after all.  He was closely surrounded with body guards and it was getting pretty late.  I tried to remain calm, act cool and tried not to stare in his direction the whole evening, but I couldn’t help my anticipation and anxiousness.  Then the moment came…Michael got up and headed for the door, my husband pushed me ahead and said, “Go Grace, Go!”  His back was towards me, but as he turned, I just stuck out my hand and said, “Hello, it’s so nice to meet you, can I have my hug now?”  I don’t even think I said PLEASE!  I think I really startled him…he probably thought I was some weird stalker.  But he just looked at me with the biggest smile and said, “What’s your name?”

I smiled in embarrassment and to be honest, I don’t really remember, but I think I said, “My name is Grace, I was the girl with the sign.  I am so sorry I interrupted the concert.”  He looked at me with the biggest smile and then just leaned in and gave me the biggest, longest hug ever!  It was so amazing!  Then he looked right in my eyes (it was mesmerizing) and told me not to be sorry at all and explained to me how happy he was that I made him a sign.  He kept saying, “You made my show, you made it better…don’t worry at all.”  Then I pointed at my husband and introduced him to Michael Buble!  HELLO!?!  Crazy!  We all started talking like we were old friends about our wedding, his upcoming wedding, the heat in Malaysia and his concert.  He was so nice!!!!  We ended up taking a few pictures before he wished us a nice evening.  We said a quick goodbye and when we turned around, he was gone.   Wow, what an unbelievable evening.

A personal note to Michael Buble, if EVER he were to come across my blog post…Michael, thank you for being so sweet and kind.  I will never forget your concert in Kuala Lumpur and meeting you that night.  And to my husband..if it weren’t for you, I never would have found this amazing dress, had the opportunity to sit so close to the stage, or even attempted to get into the Ritz.  I know you think that I love Michael Buble MORE than you, but don’t worry sweetie, I love you both THE SAME!