[Note: Again this is late in being posted so I am going to change the post date so it is on the date that this day actually happened. Now isn't that confusing lol. So I am writing on July 1st but this post will have been posted on June 21st to make it easier for me :D Also I apologize in advance but this is going to be a really really long post. Lot's of back story and then all the events for a full 24 hour time frame.]
This was probably one of my stupidest plans in all honesty. I didn't even know what my dentist was going to do when I had my dental surgery and was just hoping that it was only fillings and everything went perfectly. That was monday. On Tuesday we were quick to assume that I was lactose intolerant again (I was as a child - just found this out recently) since all I had to eat after surgery was mainly dairy products (pudding, ice cream, chocolatae milk etc) and let's just say my stomach really really didn't like me and I spent from 5am until 2pm not daring to venture too far from the bathroom. After everything was 'empty' mom made sure to make me some 'meals' that had no dairy in them for me to eat (Jello and chicken soup). No body said it but we were all concerned for Wednesday. Wednesday I had planned something that I should have never planned but there was no way I was going to let the opportunity pass me by!!!
Most people don't know this (at least on the blog I haven't mentioned it - but Sarah knows for sure lol) but I am a massive Jackson fanatic. It started out just being Micheal that I loved but then when his nephews (3T) came around I loved them too. Then I started getting into the Jackson 5 and The Jacksons music (I was too young when the split to ever remember them). My parents joked that I walked around the house singing "Beat It" before I could even talk in full sentances. Over the years I have come to find that there isn't a Jackson who sings that I dont like. And there are a lot of them! I would say the most current Jackson's to put out music would be Taryll Jackson (1/3rd of 3T - Tito Jackson's middle child) and Austin Brown (Rebbie Jackson's son). I have the vast majority of CDs (though I am behind on Janet's last album), mainly only missing the ones that were done before I was born and the 'brothers' (Jackie, Tito, Jermain, & Marlon) solo stuff. I do however have a far bit of my iPod's memory devoted to the solo projects and old J5 stuff. I was devestated when Micheal died. It put an end to my most wanted fantasy. I had hoped sometime that I would actually be able to see him in concert. I was very very close to buying tickets to the "This Is It" shows in England but chickened out as I couldn't find someone else to go and didn't want to go that far alone. So, when I heard that the brothers were going on tour I was so happy, then I heard that they were going to be in the state that boarders my province and I scrambled to see if I could make it work (which wasn' t working - my mom's comment was "Why do you want to go see 4 old guys dance" and my dad refused to drive in the city they were appearing). Then on pure chance I stumbled on the fact that they had added a few new dates and venues and was actually coming to Canada! Not only that, they were going to be only 5 hours away from me! Then a family friend said she wanted to go (ends up she couldn't get off work so my dad, knowing that I really wanted to go, ended up taking me) and that she would do the driving. Everything was so perfect!! Except the fact that the concert was only two days after my dental surgery. I had surgery on the 18th (Monday) and the concert was on the 20th (Wednesday). I didn't care though, there was no way I was missing this. In hindsight, I really should have cancelled my dental surgery but I just wanted to get it over and done with before summer started. So, after a lot of rambling on and on, here is what happened that day :)
We woke up early, packed the truck stopped at Tim Hortons and were on our way. We left here around 9am and drove pretty much straight all the way to Barrie (minus a few Timmy stops and bathroom breaks) and got into the city around 1:15ish. Dad lived in Barrie when he was quite young so after we glimpsed the hotel we had booked (but didn't go in and register as we couldn't register until 3pm) and then dad drove around showing me all places he remembed from growing up. First he showed me the dock area and then to the house they lived in before leaving the city. Drove a bit more and we got to a rural type of area (lots of trees, I think maybe a concervation area was there now) and showed me the first house they lived in once they got to Canada (Dad was born in England, he was a war baby and moved her when he was a few months old) then showed me the long trek they had to walk to get to their first one-room school house. While driving to try and find the old school house he showed me a small building and mentions "Mom used to teach Sunday School there". Never in my life did I know that my grandparents / dad went to church years ago, let alone know that my Nan was a Sunday School teacher! It appeared that the old one room school house had been torn down as there was a new-ish looking house were he thought the school should be. We then drove to another surronding area of Barrie and dad was intent on finding this church. He wouldn't ask for directions, wouldn't let me call mom to get the address and directions and just kept getting madder and madder about not being able to find the place and by that time it was past the time that we could go to the hotel so he gave up on it and said we would look for it the next day maybe or this summer as we are planning on taking a family vacation up around that area.
So we head back into the busy area of the city and pull into our hotel. We get all the paperwork gathered that we needed and head into the building. Somehow, when I booked our rooms they managed to put me at Hotel B instead of Hotel A whose website I had used to book the room! The lady had to call Hotel B and see if we had reservations there. Then she says that since it was a booking for that date, if we wanted to stay at Hotel A, we would have to pay for the room then and we would NOT get a refund from Hotel B. Thankfully Hotel B was only a few city blocks from Hotel A (about a 5 - 10 minute drive, mainly because you have to get on and off a major highway). Thankfully we didn't unpack anything yet so we hopped back in the truck and headed off to Hotel B. Dad went in first and made sure everything was okay and then came out shaking his head that he had to pay a $60 safety deposit in cash before we could get the keys to the room. Thought that was odd as I had ordered the room on credit card and was under the impression that if any damage was done to the room (like dad and I are such party people - dad has been sober 30+ years) that it would be charged to my card. We unpacked the truck and lugged everything to our room (second floor with no elevator!) and tried to decide what to do as we had only a short amount of time. Originally I had planned on having a nap during this time but I was so excited about the concert and we only had like a 30minute time frame where I could sleep, I decided to pass on the nap and just get showered and changed then played around on my iPod for a while. We had passed a Mandarin restaurant while driving around and I had asked dad if he had ever been to one and that it was really good food. When I came out of the shower I found that dad had gone through all the booklets and binder of information while I was in and had found a map with directions to get from our hotel to the closest Mandarin. I was a little concerned as I hadn't really had anything to eat since before I had my surgery but my stomach felt good and once I got eating I realized just how hungry I was! I even went up for seconds AND dessert! We had a great supper (and ended up with an inside joke of "Welcome to Mandarin!") and then headed off to go to the concert.
After the major highway turned into a normal type of highway (I know that makes no sense unless you have seen it) dad told me this story from when he was a kid. He pointed out this small lake and said that that is where him and my uncle always went fishing. Then one day nan found out that they were crossing the highway to get to this lake and told them that they were never to cross that road again. So instead they found drainage pipes and crawled through them UNDER the highway to get back and go fishing again. I asked if he ever told nan that and he said he didn't want to get in trouble lol. We drove for quite a while and than dad took a turnoff that he thought was the right one, however all it ended in was a LCBO and no signs about the casino. Dad got back on the highway and traveled until her realized that we had gone too far. We ended up getting off and going to a gas station to get directions. So we had to turn around and go back to where we had first been. So we were finally on the right road and there was a lot of big signs advertising the place, until we went down the road and found that the bridge was completely gone and that we had to make a massive detour. A short 5 minute trip turned into a good 20 minute detour.
We finally got to the casino but then had no clue where we were going. There were signs for the Entertainment Center that we followed but that ended up leading us to the hotel area. We kept going around the building and time was running out and I could tell dad was getting frustrated and nervous. We found a big entrance at the back so I ran in and asked where we were supposed to go and where to park. He told me to go along the side of the building and there was the entrance door there, but not as far as the hotel. Confusing as that is how we came in. We went back that way and saw nothing again. We could easily see the Entertainment Center, just no entrances or places to park. There was a large set of multiple doors so dad finally just told me to leave one ticket and to get into the place so I didn't miss anything and he would find a parking spot and meet me in there. Well that turned out to be the emergency exit for the Entertainment Center :S I ended up back at the first door and walking through the entire casino to find the concert hall. Somehow, that I still dont understad, dad caught up to me just before I had entered the Entertainment Center. We got in the place, found our amazing seats and got comfy. This is when dad let me know that we might have a slight issue because he thought that one of the tires in the truck was slowly leaking air but not to worry and to just enjoy the show. We thought it was funny as looking around at the people at the show, I bet anyone would have bet good money that it was me that was accompaning dad and not dad accompanying me. I was probably one of the youngest people there! It was at a casino so it was 19+ but still there were a lot more older people than younger ones. Of course the concert didn't start at 8pm on the dot like dad figured it would but I didn't care! Finally it was time and I was suddenly smaked into reality that I was actually mere seconds away from seeing The Jacksons!!!!!
The concert and what happened to dad and I after it will be a seperate post as this one is getting way too long!!!
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