I am NOT a groupie! I was. Many years ago. Being an extremely shy teenage girl, I would spend hours dreaming about one day becoming Mrs. Osmond. Every possible teen magazine was searched from cover to cover for pictures and info about Donny. That was before the internet and teen magazines were my primary source of information about the man of my dreams. I knew the birthdates of all all the brothers and Marie, their favorite colors and foods and even their hobbies. (According to 16 Magazine Donny was a budding electrician who rewired their doorbell to play his music. Oh if I could have just had one of those doorbells!)
Growing up way out in the country, I knew it wouldn't happen, but when I dreamed one night that the Osmonds were on a tour bus that broke down on our rural country road and all of them started climbing out of the bus in my front yard, well I just about made myself sick wondering if that dream just might come true! I imagined what it would be like and how Donny would fall head over heels for me at first sight. How could he not? I had my entire side of the room I shared with my sister covered in Donny pictures and posters. I knew all the words to every song he sang. I even had my hair cut like his! (His hair was much longer then so I didn't really look like a boy.) Every haircut, I would get out my favorite Donny picture as the guide and the scissors would go to work. And one of my grandmas, being a seamstress, made a cap for me just like Donny wore. I wore it every at opportunity!
Not only did I listen to the Osmonds, I performed Marie's "Paper Roses" along with a few other girls at our Spring Choir Concert when I was in 7th grade. I had planned to sing a solo but back then I was very shy and just couldn't get my voice to be loud enough. (My family would gladly testify that I outgrew that shyness and now everybody can hear me, no amplification needed!)
Then came the day I found out The Donny & Marie Show was coming on TV! I was walking on a cloud! Donny singing to me once a week, every week! Looking into those beautiful brown eyes every week while he sang to me and only me! I couldn't have been any happier....then I realized our TV didn't get the channel the show was on. Ah! But my grandparents' TV DID get that channel! So every Friday evening I would call my grandma and say "Mamaw can I come watch your TV?" She loved it! According to her I would sit "Indian style" in the floor in front of the TV, bouncing up and down for an hour! One year, on Valentine's Day, there was a special valentine waiting for me when I got home from school. Mamaw had enlisted my aunt to help her make a valentine from Donny to me. They worked really hard to make it look authentic. I knew she was behind it, but oh my heart wanted so badly to believe it was really from my beloved Donny!
When it was announced that Donny was getting married, I hoped and hoped it wasn't so. Even when the news showed Donny and Debbie after their wedding I just didn't want to believe it. Alas, it was true. And I must begin to grow up too. Several years later I also got married and had my own houseful of boys and one girl. (4 and 1 so not quite as many as the Osmond family. I couldn't help but compare my brood to theirs though.) And so was my life. Until last night........
My husband was actually the one who found out that Donny & Marie were coming to Tulsa, OK, which is about and hour and 45 minutes from our home. It was actually his idea to get tickets. (What a sweetie!) So we bought our tickets and I started counting down the days. I couldn't wait! Time to leave for Tulsa yesterday just couldn't come soon enough! But I tried to be grown up. After all I am now a 52 year old wife and mother. I needed to be mature. But it was so hard!!!!!!! Just driving into Tulsa I got a little giddy thinking that I was breathing air in the same city as Donny Osmond!!!!!!!!
We stopped for dinner before going to the venue. I was very glad the restaurant wasn't busy as we could get to the BOK quicker. My husband can find any address anywhere (I call him the human GPS) so we headed toward the BOK as I began to plan how to enter the twitter contest Marie had just tweeted about. He quickly found a parking area that he didn't consider too expensive but decided to drive around in it a while just to get on my nerves! I was about ready to hop out of the car and take off on my own when he finally settled on a parking space.
Once we got inside the venue, I quickly spotted the cutout of Marie where her tweet had instructed us to get our pictures made. Hubby and I took our places by the cut out, took our pictures, found our seats and composed our tweets. There was no way we would win, but it was fun to think about just like when I was a kid and dreamed their bus broke down in front of my house.
Then it happened. Suddenly, right there in front of me, Donny and Marie Osmond! My dream come true! A chance of a lifetime! I screamed. I sang along. I applauded. I bounced up and down in my seat! Then someone handed Marie a piece of paper. She told about the twitter contest and started reading "k m h parks", "Mrs. Parks". It was me! It was ME!!!!!!!!!!!! I jumped up and announced "That's me!!!!!!" My husband and I were ushered to the front row, best seats in the house, that we had just won! Marie asked for my first name and then asked for my husband's name and announced "he's cute!" PLEASE DON'T WAKE ME! THIS DREAM IS TOO FUN!!!!!!!!
The smile never left my face the rest of the night. I sang along with practically every song. My heartthrob Donny was right there just a few feet from me. And singing to me and only me! But sitting so close gave me another view as well. A view of Marie's beautiful wardrobe! And even more......her shoes! I've never seen so many beautiful shoes and boots! Sparkling green shoes! White boots that look like lace! Every costume brought a new pair of shoes or boots. I wondered if we wore the same size or if she would let me try them on. I was mesmerized by Marie's shoes! She danced in them. She even ran in them and didn't seem to have one bit of trouble doing so. Never once did she appear to have aching feet even! Then came the most beautiful shoes I had ever seen. Marie was dressed in a beautiful black dress with long shiny black tassels. It was beautiful and I wanted one just like it! I wanted to dance around like she did while the dress sparkled in the lights! Ahhhh.....but then I looked at her feet. Her shoes sparkled like diamonds. I couldn't take my eyes off them! She sang and danced around the stage and I watched her shoes, only occasionally looking up from them. I wanted a closer look so badly! Then it happened. She sat down on the top step of the stage right there in front of me! She was so close I could almost touch her! And those beautiful shoes! Oh those beautiful shoes!
Last night was a night I will never forget. I'm still smiling! And while I absolutely loved Donny singing "Puppy Love" (and I sang right along and screamed when appropriate) I just can't stop thinking about Marie's shoes. Guess I have grown up. And Marie, should you ever get tired of your beautiful shoes, I know where you can retire them. Hint hint!
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