It's official, I am almost the BEST MAMA EVER!

At least that's what my daughter, Chelsea, told me yesterday!

You all know my daughter, Chelsea, right? My precious little angel that is the light of my life!

Well, she kinda has this full-blown, crazy, insane obsession with the Soap Opera "General Hospital".....and more specifically, with the actor who plays Johnny Zacharra on the show, Brandon Barash.

She tapes (yes, my mom still uses a VCR) and watches the show every single day....and becomes down-right depressed when "Johnny" isn't on the show that particular day. She talks to him through the television screen, and screams and yells at the television if she feels that anyone is doing "her Johnny" wrong.

Don't even get me started on what happens if General Hospital is interrupted by a **gasp** urgent news report.

It's not a pretty picture, let me tell you.

Anyway..... Last Tuesday (the day after we got back from vacation), I was running late for work (which I never, ever, do....HA!), and as I pulled into the parking lot, I heard this advertisement on the radio about "Soap Nation" putting on an event prior to Saturday Night's Sara Evans concert. And guess who they said was scheduled to appear......

That's right, BRANDON BARASH!

I was so excited! BUT, I didn't have a clue where the event was supposed to be. So, when I got home that night, I looked it up and found out that the event was just a few miles away from my job!

I could do that!

I anxiously waited and planned for the entire week, but I was just SURE that something would happen before Saturday and change my plans. Marty was having some medical tests done on Friday at the hospital, and historically the anesthesia makes him sick-as-a-dog for several days. I just knew he wouldn't be feeling well enough for me to leave. So, I didn't tell Chelsea ANYTHING! It would have crushed her if she had known and then were suddenly unable to go.

Fortunately, Marty felt better by Friday night, so I set "Plan Brandon" into action.

I printed out maps, packed a bag to put stuff in, charged up the camera batteries and told Chelsea that we would try to go school clothes shopping in the morning.

She was excited!

We headed out before 8:00 am, and soon hit the Interstate. Chelsea started to wonder why we went past our local Malls, and I told her that I decided to go clothes shopping in Georgia, instead.

She TOTALLY bought it!

After making only one wrong turn (darn Google Maps!), we pulled into the parking lot. There were "Soap Nation" signs everywhere, but Chelsea still didn't put 2 & 2 together. So, I thought this would be the perfect time to tell her what we were really doing...



Once I stopped crying, we jumped out of the car and ran to get in line. One thing I didn't plan on was the event being OUTSIDE....AND....it being close to 100 degrees.

But that's OK, Chelsea's handy-dandy pink umbrella came in handy to shield the sun.

After waiting in line for about an hour, the line started to move. We were HOT, SWEATY, and THIRSTY, but EXCITED!

Once we started filing in to the complex, we saw Chelsea's crush "Johnny" standing by the stage.

She FREAKED OUT!

She really started freaking out when he walked right by us (on the other side of the steps) to visit the people working the Blood Mobile that was there for a blood drive.

Ahhhhh, but the best was yet to come!

A few minutes after finally making it into the outdoor complex, we heard a commotion right behind us. We turned around and there. he. was. He was literally close enough for us to touch him.

Chelsea was so excited, she was jumping up and down! She grabbed her shirt that says "Brandon Barash's Number 1 Fan" and held it up for him to see. He immediately started pointing to it and said "That is SO COOL!"

Chelsea went nuts!

He continued just standing there, so I nudged her and said "Go give him a hug!" So, being the obedient daughter she is (ha ha, like she needed ANY encouragement)....she ran right up to him and hugged him!

He was SO sweet to her. He wrapped his arm around her and started talking and smiling at her.

She was in HEAVEN!

I eagerly snapped away with my camera, until I noticed that I couldn't keep my hands still. I was SO HAPPY for Chelsea, my hands were shaking uncontrollably. My baby girl got to meet the man of her dreams!

Her life is now complete....or so I thought. Chelsea had other plans.

Actually getting to meet, hug, talk and smile at "her man" was not enough. She wanted to stay for the WHOLE thing. So, being the great mother that I am (extreme sarcasm there), caved to her wishes, and stayed.

We tried to play some of the games, and register for some of the giveaways, but it was just too dern HOT! There were about 2000 people herded packed into an area about the size of an Olympic-sized swimming pool. So most of the time, we just tried to find a shaded place to sit, and wait for the day's activities. Oh, and once the concession stand FINALLY opened, we purchased about $10.00 worth of drinks (one fountain drink and two bottled drinks).

Soon, Bradford Anderson (aka: Spinelli from General Hospital) who was hosting this event, came out and said there had been a change in plans, and Brandon Barash's Question and Answer session was going to be moved UP, and would be next!

How great was THAT???

Now she can see him again, and THEN we could go home. Only one hour into the event and we would have been up-close-and-personal with "Chelsea's man" TWO times. That should be enough for her, right?

Here is a video of when Brandon (and Lisa, aka: Olivia) first came out on the stage. The blond jumping up and down in front of me is Chelsea. (Sorry for the movement in the video....Chelsea kept bumping into me...lol)



The next video is them asking Brandon if his character and Lisa's character should stay together (on the show). Chelsea started screaming "NO! NO! NO!" and soon Bradford (Spinelli) started talking to her. It was SO FUNNY! (again, sorry for the movement in the video...I was also holding a Jumbo drink and an umbrella in my hands)



When they left, Chelsea was happier than ever and now even MORE determined NOT to leave until it was over. However, by this time....I was ALMOST dead from the heat. We tried our best to stay hydrated and cooled down, but it just wasn't working. I knew that if I didn't get some cool air soon, I would end up passing out. So, I convinced Chelsea to leave the area and go sit in our air-conditioned car for a while. All of Brandon's events were over for the day except for the end-of-the-event autograph session. She reluctantly agreed and we set off for the car.

I ALMOST didn't make it.

The ground started moving and my stomach started churning, but we did finally make it to the car. It seemed like an eternity before that dern thing got cool, but it finally did.

It was at that time we decided to take a little drive down the road and get a snack and another HUGE drink or two. About an hour-and-a-half later, we drove back in, and managed to get a PRIMO parking spot. Because of the heat, half of the people had already left...GREAT news for us.

As soon as we got back in, we went to stand in the autograph line. Our timing couldn't have been any better! Since we were at the end of the line....it curved around to right in front of the autograph tables. For several minutes before the autograph session started, we had clear shots of Brandon!

Chelsea kept yelling "Hey Brandon!" or "Hey Johnny!", and he looked up, waved and smiled EVERY SINGLE TIME! What a doll!

So, we proceeded to stand in the HOT sun for another hour in the autograph line. After the first few minutes, I was so afraid that Chelsea would get too hot and pass out on me (she has a tendency to do that...Target, racetrack, Jameson's first football game), so I made her go sit in the shade while I waited in line. As soon as I made it near the front of the line, Chelsea jumped right back in...she wasn't going to miss a thing!

As soon as I got to the edge of the autograph table, one of the workers said to me "When you pass me, I'm gonna need for you to turn off your camera. We are trying to get the rest of these people through the line and we just don't have time to let you stop and take pictures."

WHAT????????

You are kidding me, right?

There is NO WAY I was going to be thisclose to Soap stars and NOT photograph them! So, as the people ahead of us kept the line STOPPED, I whipped my trusty camera back out and clicked away!

Nobody said a WORD to me!

Most of the actors/actresses were very nice and pleasant....even Melissa (Annie) and Darnell Williams (Jesse) when Chelsea told them that she didn't watch All My Children and didn't want their autographs....lol. They both gave her a funny look and then just laughed.

But Lisa (Olivia), Brandon (Johnny), Bradford (Spinelli), and Scott (Schylur) really gave Chelsea a TON of attention. They waved and smiled and talked to her. Bradford especially paid a lot of attention to her. He kept telling her how much he appreciated her being there and he remembered her being on the front row, and then he thanked her for answering his question (from the earlier video). He may not be Chelsea's favorite actor, but he sure made a fan out of me!

Scott was also so sweet and extremely funny (not to mention HOT, HOT, HOT!)! I am definitely a much bigger fan of his now, too!

Bree Williamson (Jessica from One Life to Live) was also there, but by the time we walked by, she looked like she was just DONE with the whole event. She was nice, but you could tell she was just ready for it to be over.

(Hmmmm, I just realized that ALL of the men signing were left-handed....very unusual)

By the end of the day, I managed to get hundreds of photos, tons of video and a really bad sunburn!

**OUCH!!**

That's why I said I almost got the BEST MAMA EVER award.....A real BEST MAMA would have realized this was an outside event on a 95+ degree day, and would have remembered to bring SUNSCREEN!

Poor Chelsea's face and lower arms got really red, despite being constantly covered by her pink umbrella.

But she said it was "TOTALLY WORTH IT!"

I think I would have to agree!