Ask and Ye Shall Receive

For the past few weeks I have been putting together an itinerary for a long awaited trip to Manhattan.  Forget Hawaii, the Bahamas or Mexico, sitting and relaxing at the beach with an nice tropical drink? Nope. I want action!  Since I was in the fourth grade I remember dreaming of seeing the Big Apple.  Maybe it’s because I grew up watching old movies.  Every weekend my twin sister Jessica and I would tune into one of the thirteen channels we had back then.  It was usually Tom Hatten hosting the Family Film Festival where I learned to love old movies (and despise Cal Worthington and his dog spot).  Only recently did I learn that the jingle for his commercials wasn’t “pussy cow, pussy cow.” Kathleen, our pop culture expert was the one who informed me it it was “Go see Cal, Go see Cal.” Mr. Hatten introduced me to Bob Hope, Jerry Lewis and Shirley Temple, only to name a few.  Most of these beloved movies took place in the city and everyone had that great New York/New Jersey accent.

When planning my first trip to New York one of the main things I wanted to see was The Late Show with David Letterman.  Jase and I watch the Late Show all the time.  Back in March I requested tickets online and it said that they would contact me via email and that if i didn’t hear from them I could stand in line at the studio and try my luck getting in.  March came and went, but no email.  I kinda knew that I wouldn’t receive an email, I mean why would I?  They probably have hundreds of eager fans just waiting at the door every night to get a glimpse of the many celebrities that appear on the show.

Determined, last week I once again I put in my request for tickets.  This time I wrote the Late Show and told them our story.  What is my story you might ask?  Well I told them that we celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary earlier this year and that we had our kids when we were teenagers blah blah… and people always ask us “how do you guys do it?”  and I tell them “like your mother would say to you - never go to bed angry”  but I also add in “we watch David Letterman”  even if it’s just his monologue and top 10 list.  We laugh and go to bed.  Thank you Mr. Letterman.

So Tuesday, while watching the Presidential Debates my cell phone rings, well of course I am not going to answer, McCain is on the attack and I was hoping to see Obama go out and punch him.  I guess I still have hockey fever.  I checked my cell phone after the debate and it was the CBS studios calling me to see if I was still interested on seeing the show!  OMG!  I thought, “If I miss Letterman I will blame McCain forever!”

This morning I woke up a bit nervous, made myself some coffee, put the clean dishes away and checked the clock.  It was 8:30am what was I waiting for?  The East Coast is three hours ahead. I could just see them giving my tickets away to some local New Yorker who has probably seen the show hundreds of times.  So, I called the number. The phone answered on its second ring, which shocked me because all of a sudden my voice got all shaky…”uh yes, this is Geri…I uh…am calling…uh I went on line to request for tickets uh….”  the same nice calm voice that had left a message on my phone answered.  “Geri and Jase right?”  What? He remembers me? Can you believe it? This guy, John, remembered me, wow what a professional.  He asked me what day I would prefer to go to.  I told him any day we could get in was good with us as long as Mr. Letterman was going to be hosting the show.  Maybe he thought my next question would be to ask who would be on the show.  He schedule us to go on Thursday Oct. 16th.  Woo Hoo!  Guaranteed tickets!  Wow, I have been walking on clouds all day.  If we don’t see anything else, because all the museums or famous restaurants shut down due to our financial crisis it wouldn’t matter. We are going to see David Letterman baby!!!!  \m/