Pbmom's Blog

I am going to the AMERICAN IDOL FINALE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Did I use enough exclamation marks?)

How did I manage this? Keep reading. 

The first week of May was a very exciting week for me. At the beginning of the week, I had won two $25 gift certificates to My Fit Foods in our local area. I decided to go ahead and donate that back to my son’s school for autism so the children could take a field trip one day, maybe a lesson centering on nutrition. Later in the week I got another swag package from @OFFICIALFOXVIP to promote the season finale of Fringe.

Fringe night light.

Fringe squish sticky ball

Signed Fringe script

Being with Fox VIP, I have had access to previews of Fox shows not yet aired, swag, and a few internal contests. I have also met interesting people and continue to enjoy getting to know them. The previous week we got a notice that one of the Fox VIP group would be going to the American Idol finale. I hesitated at first, making sure that if I did win, I would be able to fulfill this commitment. Having a trip in the middle of the week in the month of May had three strikes against me: 1) The trip itself and my waxing and waning health; 2) my husband would have to take the 3-hour journey every day to take Patrick to school and stay with him after school; 3) I was supposed to have a big meeting with the school district in the month of May and trying to coordinate everyone’s schedules was becoming nightmarish; this would mean another 3 days someone was not available. However, the other side of me said, “When are you going to get enough opportunity like this with the odds of winning so favorable. You’ll regret not entering, and as you see in this entry “Life Without Regrets” I would not want that to happen. Oddly enough, when I sent in my entry, I told my husband, “I’m going to win this.” It was that sixth sense feeling that I often get, a gut feeling that has saved my life and rarely has been wrong. Perhaps it is because I am a Pisces. In our private group, we were making jokes about who was going to win and I said, “I’m very sorry but my horoscope said I was winning.”

Friday, May 6, 2011 is when the name would be drawn. Friday was also the day of Patrick’s school’s Mother’s Day celebration–a picnic at the park. I had left at about 11:15 a.m. We had a wonderful time. When Patrick used his IPad & Proloquo2go program to give me a Mother’s Day greeting, I was moved to tears. It was the best Mother’s Day gift EVER.

Patrick and his teacher at Mother's Day Picnic using the IPad to tell me something.

I came home and shared this day with my husband. I sat down at my computer to start working when I saw the email from Fox asking me to call them. Then I remembered: This was the day they were drawing the name for the contest, and I let out a scream that I won to my husband.

The phone then rang. It was a parent of a child with autism who really needed to talk with me. I just could not ask her if I could call her back. If you are a parent with a child with autism, you know that sometimes you need to talk to someone immediately. I would want someone to be there for me. The phone call lasted until almost 5 p.m. Fortunately, Los Angeles is 2 hours behind or I really would have had to call her back.

I dialed the phone number and reached the person with whom I needed to speak. I screamed, “Did I WIN?????” With the banshee screech I let loose, I’m surprised I did not rupture her eardrum.

The possibility of James Durbin being named the American Idol this year was exciting to me. The autism community speaks often of him and what a wonderful role model he is to the world. Of course, we know James will not be in the final 2, but I will get to see him perform.

I will fly out Tuesday afternoon. My friend and I will be having dinner at LA Market, where Nona from Hell’s Kitchen last year is now working (Gordon Ramsay’s restaurant). On Wednesday, I plan to have lunch with my brother-in-law who lives in the LA area before I go get my tickets at the Fox tent, and then on to the American Idol finale results show. I do not know where I’ll be sitting in the audience, but I feel blessed to be there. The people at the hotel say there is not a bad seat in the Nokia. My sign will hopefully say “Houston Warrior Moms Love James.” Something to that effect, but definitely the Houston Warrior Moms part will be on there. That will depend if I can find the right supplies in the area of the hotel. No cameras or phones are allowed into the Nokia. After the finale, I hope to meet up with another person I know for dinner. Then Thursday, I’m on the plane home again.

I hope to post updates here, on Facebook and/or on Twitter (Follow @PBMom) as I can access the hotel computers. Hope you’ll follow along this wonderful journey with me.