Part 3 - Eric Church just stole my Sharpie.

At the end of the concert, Eric Church hopped down into the audience and started signing autographs.

I do not have the advantage of height, so I could not tell where the hell EFC was in the crowd. Instead of standing on my tippy toes and trying to see (which is absolutely pointless), I stood there in the front row and kept singing and dancing to the song 'Springsteen.'

And then I noticed the spotlight, which I presumed was on Eric Church in the crowd, kept getting closer to me.

And closer.

And then a little bit closer.

OH MY GOD.

I was recording Springsteen, and I stopped recording and put my phone in my pocket. I grabbed my Sharpie and got my Rolling Stone out of my purse. (See the video later in this post, the video I took during Born to Run and Springsteen.)

And then a second later, Eric Church was standing right in front of me. He took my copy of Rolling Stone, looked me right in the eye, did his little Eric Church squeal/howl, then turned the magazine over and autographed it for me.

Before the concert, I thought a lot about what I would say to him if he gave me an autograph. I decided beforehand I would just simply tell him 'thank you.'

I held my magazine out several times for him to sign throughout the concert, but he always walked the other direction.

When Eric Church was finally in front of me, with no one in between us, I could not say anything. No words came out of my mouth.

Instead, I smiled the biggest smile ever. He returned the smile, and then he took my sharpie to sign my concert buddy's boots.

That moment was pure happiness. In my world there was nothing bad going on. Heart break didn't exist and stressful moments were in the rear view mirror.

I punched my concert buddy in the arm.

"Eric Church just stole my Sharpie," I told him.

My concert buddy laughed.

Eric Church can steal my Sharpie whenever he wants to.

As the concert ended, EC told the sold out crowd that his summer had been rough and that he needed tonight. He pointed to the fans in the front row, and said something like "I need this right now. I need you guys during 'Springsteen.'"

The thing is, we need him, too.

A photo I stole online of EC signing autographs during Springsteen.

I needed that moment.

Life is not always pretty. As I walked away from the concert that night, with my signed copy of Rolling Stone in my hand, I silently thanked the events in my life that had led me to this point.

This point — the point that involves being single and going to a concert eight hours away just because I want to — this is the point in my life that I am thankful for.

I'm having a record year.

---

The other cool thing?

As soon as EC started singing the words to Born to Run, my heart started to smile.

I've been listening to this song on repeat over the last couple of weeks.

And I got to hear my favorite artist sing it, AND THEN he signed autographs right after it?

Sigh.

In the day we sweat it out on the streets of a runaway American dream
At night we ride through the mansions of glory in suicide machines
Sprung from cages out on highway nine,
Chrome wheeled, fuel injected, and steppin' out over the line
H-Oh, Baby this town rips the bones from your back
It's a death trap, it's a suicide rap
We gotta get out while we're young
`Cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run

Yes, girl we were

Wendy let me in I wanna be your friend
I want to guard your dreams and visions
Just wrap your legs 'round these velvet rims
And strap your hands 'cross my engines
Together we could break this trap
We'll run till we drop, baby we'll never go back
H-Oh, Will you walk with me out on the wire
`Cause baby I'm just a scared and lonely rider
But I gotta know how it feels
I want to know if love is wild
Babe I want to know if love is real

Oh, can you show me

Beyond the Palace hemi-powered drones scream down the boulevard
Girls comb their hair in rearview mirrors
And the boys try to look so hard
The amusement park rises bold and stark
Kids are huddled on the beach in a mist
I wanna die with you Wendy on the street tonight
In an everlasting kiss

One, two, three, four

The highway's jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive
Everybody's out on the run tonight
But there's no place left to hide
Together Wendy we can live with the sadness
I'll love you with all the madness in my soul
H-Oh, Someday girl I don't know when
We're gonna get to that place
Where we really wanna go
And we'll walk in the sun
But till then tramps like us
Baby we were born to run

Oh honey, tramps like us
Baby we were born to run

Come on with me, tramps like us
Baby we were born to run

-Born to Run

Bruce Springsteen