FORESTER SISTERS HALL OF FAME INDUCTION
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 5-SUNDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2014:
I don’t normally write road reports for my U.S. trips but the two this week are so special, I wanted to share the experiences with my friends.
The Z’s spent the night with me Friday night and I explained to them that I had to get up early Saturday morning and fly to Atlanta but only for “one sleep”. We usually “sleep in” on weekends when they stay with me. That means they wake up at 7:30 am! Ha…some “sleep in”, huh? Zac was fine with anything that means more sleep but Zoe had a hundred questions. Then when I slipped quietly out of bed, so did she. I got Lindsey to come in and lie down with them but Zoe refused to go back to sleep. I finally had a chat with her before I had to leave and she closed her eyes and slept a little longer. Headstrong – like her “Ju-Ju”!
I got all mixed up on my “time” and arrived at the airport over an hour too early. I just can’t pack or travel for short periods of time. I’m much better when I’m going to be away for weeks….just take everything I own. I had time to eat breakfast and go in the Delta Lounge and work for a while. I got my upgrade to first class on the short 30 minute flight and landed in Atlanta at 2 pm their time.
We were all staying at the Omni Hotel which is in CNN Plaza. It’s HUGE – and it has two towers of rooms – North Tower and South Tower. Of course, the taxi dropped me off at the South Tower and my room was in the North Tower. I knew I’d never find my way around that hotel. I contacted Kim and they were just leaving for sound check. Told her to call me when she got back.
I looked in the hotel directory and found a business center in my tower and went down to print my boarding pass for tomorrow’s flight. Only the business center wasn’t there. I had to ask someone and eventually found it. But, when I tried to print, the printer didn’t work. I tried everything I knew to fix it and finally just called the Operator. She said she couldn’t help me and that I would have to go to the South Tower and use those computers. After numerous wrongs turns on wrong floors, I made my way to the South Tower Business Center. There were 4 terminals and on each was taped a big sign: DO NOT PRINT!
I gave up and went to the Concierge who wasn’t sure he knew HOW to print a boarding pass. He eventually figured it out. Next I went in search of a salad. Found a McCormick and Schmick on the first floor lobby and had a nice lobster salad.
I went back to my room and started working and before I knew it, it was 5:20 pm. I frantically sent Kim a text to see if they were back. They were and she said we had to be in the lobby by 5:45 pm! Then I did panic. I still had to dress and get ready for the show. I made it but my room was thrashed when I walked out the door. Wayne – our driver – only had a town car and the 5 of us squeezed in with him. He dropped us off at the Red Carpet and we eventually figured out what was required of them.
All the “kids” (and that should be “young adults) were there as well as the husbands. I couldn’t believe how much the children had grown. But it’s been since the mid-90’s that I’ve seen most of them. Where did the time go? The girls have to be so proud of all of them. Very intelligent, polite young adults. I looked at June’s husband – Joey – and said, “He looks like a politican!” Turns out he has been a Judge for 5 years now.
We went into the Ballroom for dinner and before we even got to the coffee stage, someone came and whisked the girls away for their performance. And, of what an amazing performance it was, too. They sang “Jagged Edge” and at one point, there was an a cappella breakdown that brought the house down. They graciously accepted their “Pioneer Award” and then came back out to sit and watch the other performers that consisted of:
Von Grey – a group who won the Horizon Award
Chani Maisonet – 17 year old “opereatic” singer who won the Scholarship Award. Man, could that young girl sing. I thought she was going to “break glass”.
Goodie Mob and CeeLo Green – who were crowd favorites
Kansas – who stole the show with their 3 hit songs
Pat Alger – for songwriter
Whitney Houston – Posthumously
James “Alley Pat” Patrick – non-performer category
Robin Meade and Monica Pearson were the emcees and also sang one song.
It was a great evening and hopefully I didn’t leave anyone out! The “kids” had an over abundance of wine and then enjoyed a great time “dancing” at their table when CeeLo and Kansas performed.
I had two people talk to me about performances for the Foresters in Nashville and Decatur, Georgia. That just shows how GREAT they were on stage.
Kim and I stayed behind when Wayne took the others back to the hotel because it was too crowded in the car. Only he had to take the “founder” of the event home first. We waited and waited and called his cell, but no answer. We had walked down to Valet to have him pick us up and we found one of the organizers waiting there as well. She was able to hail us a taxi and we rode back to the hotel with 2 other people that we had never met. I was squeezed into the middle in the back seat and the lady next to me complained that her leg was getting wet. I didn’t fully understand until I realized the water from Kim’s flowers was leaking out all over us both!
When we got to the hotel, most of the “family” were already there and hanging out at the bar. Amonie was the first to bail. She has two small children and doesn’t drink, so the few drinks she had made her sick. It was very strange to look out the windows in the bar and see a huge ferris wheel right outside the window in downtown Atlanta.
We were sitting around talking when one of the musicians came up and informed us that Kim’s guitar was “missing”. Bus knew that he had brought it back from the venue but didn’t know what happened after that. Bus and Cole made a mad dash for the street level where they found it still sitting on the curb. Amazing that someone didn’t steal it in the hour it was there!
We sat around and talked until almost 1 am and then I called it a night. I was in bed by 2 am and got up at 6 am because the hotel advised that I needed to leave by 6:45 am for my 9:20 am flight. WRONG. I left at 6:45 am by taxi and was there by 7 am. I didn’t have any bags to check and I have the TSA Prescreening, so I was at the gate by 7:15 am. Again, I was way too early, so I checked to see if there was an earlier flight to Nashville. There was and by 8:30 am, I was home!
On Tuesday, I go to San Antonio for the promotion to 4 Star General for one of my dearest friends. I’m staying at the Grand Hyatt right on the River Walk – which used to be a second home to me. Will be seeing lots of my friends in that area and then coming back home on Friday!
Jude