He Writes the Song that Makes My Whole World Sing

Saturday we attended the Barry Manilow show at The Palace of Auburn Hills and I was reminded why I fell in love with the 19-year-old-Kathy those many years ago and, actually, may have fallen in love years earlier with the 15-year-old version, I just didn't know it. And though my ticket said Sec 213 and failed to indicate these seats couldn't be further away from the stage, my wife made this ticket worth more than gold and the best seat in the house.

If I had known how overwhelmingly excited and happy Kathy would be at a Manilow show, we'd have gone to see him years ago.

"Excuse me, SIR! This is the ladies room."

Ah, my wife. Just when I think she's done all the hilarious things she'll ever do, she goes into the ladies room and sees someone who doesn't appear to belong there. "Sir, sir, sir," she yells (and I can see her from the concourse)! She thought this person was a man. "Sir. This is the ladies room," she continues. The "man" turns and says, "I know." And if Kathy hadn't come running out of the ladies room laughing hysterically, she might've found herself in a very uncomfortable situation where she had to back pedal and explain why she thought this was a dude. Instead, I have a funny story to rival the 10-Year-Reunion Bathroom Staircase story and a few Key West stories.

Oh how I love my Kathy. As my Grandpa used to say ...there's only one Kathy in this whole world as we're stuck with both of them. I never really "got" this expression, but I love it and use it, often.

Robert was our usher. How do I know this? Kathy made best friends with him. He was in charge of handing out glow sticks so the audience could sway-along with their favorite Manilow tunes. Kathy decided these were fun and asked for (2) additional glow sticks for our kids. "Three kids," she told Robert. He didn't believe it and said something like, "no way do I believe YOU have three kids." Many women might've taken this as a charming compliment, but my Kathy charged back to our seats on a mission to produce photos and make him eat his words. And she did. But not before the Grandmas seated behind us asked if they could also have glow sticks. Kathy obliged, showed Robert the photos, and returned with an armful of sticks. A nice young couple next to us asked where we got the glow sticks. Kathy handed them our two and then shouted, "Robert! We need more glow sticks." So, thanks to Kathy, our entire section had glow sticks and we were ready for "Mandy", darn it.

We had a great time dancing and singing along with the Grandmas and with Robert. My date for the evening even shed a few tears during "A Weekend in New England". As the story goes, when Kathy was a little girl, she used to sit at night and sing this song out her window and into the night sky. For me, I can't imagine a cuter, nicer story. I'm pretty sure Kathy regrets sharing this story with me while we were dating, because I've told it many times (much to her embarrassment). I'm not sure I even knew the song ...but I knew it when I heard it Saturday because Kathy screamed and sang along as if she were right back on Bridle Creek. I kinda a felt a little like I, too, was back on Bridle Creek, trying to impress Kathy, make her laugh, and make her fall in love with me all over, again.

As for the show, it was rather eventful. We laughed at the opening band. Kathy took forever to order a drink at the Palace bar acting as if she'd never seen a drink menu before in her life. And Barry Manilow barely made it in from Cleveland due to his flight being canceled. He came jogging out onto the stage about 5 minutes before he should've gone on and told us all to go get a drink and he'd be out in no time. He had just spent six hours in a car driving like heck to get to Auburn Hills and needed a minute. It was quite comical. His show, then, felt very casual and friendly and it was truly amazing how he made a 15,000 person audience an intimate setting. It's like he's been doing this for a while.

The show was late, the snow was blowing and the night air was frigid and cold ...but ...the show was hot, my date hotter, and the entire evening warmed my heart and rekindled my love.

I know ...sorry. I promise my next post will be more on the "cute" side and less "mushy."