Lifehouse show #10/First Switchfoot show :)

Oh my. Where oh where do I even begin??? That is a good question to ask myself, right?? To be honest, this past weekend was filled with such excitement and love that I am not even sure where to begin, but I’ll do my best to make it flow and give y’all the best recap possible!! This weekend, I travelled with my good friend Nicole to see our favorite band Lifehouse! Nicole and I connected through our love of Lifehouse, and I always felt like they were the bridge to our friendship! I was going to Jacksonville thanks to Nicole’s generous heart & her lovely idea to purchase VIP tickets for me as a birthday present! This will absolutely go down as the best and most fitting birthday gift I have ever received! I have been an avid fan of Lifehouse for 17 years now! I fell in love with their music at the very beginning of time and have never looked back! They have helped me through the darkest and most tumultuous parts of my life and for that, I’ll be forever grateful! They are the reason there is still air in my lungs and the reason my heart beats in time! They will never ever be replaced! I was totally anticipating this show & had been counting down for months on end for this day to finally become a reality! When it was finally time to go, Nicole and I had a very nice catch up session and listened to Lifehouse the whole way there! Even though the drive was quite long, it honestly felt like it went by quickly! Once we arrived in Jacksonville, the show was closer to becoming a reality! All I had left was one more night of sleep & I would wake to give Jason and company the letter I had written for them!! Once Sunday began, I knew in my heart and soul that it was going to be the best show I had ever been to! I had also talked to a few other hard core Lifehouse fans for weeks and had known that they would also be in attendance for quite some time! I was so EXCITED to meet all of you finally and mingle with you all! All Lifehouse fans are so easy and nice! It is not hard at all to get conversation going and we all feel completely and totally captivated by the band and their impact. That is always nice to have that commonality. Anyway, once we got there, we were able to visit with fellow fans, went to soundcheck, and then came the meet and greet!! I was so excited to just see the band members again and give them the letter and coloring page I had prepared for them! Little do I know, it would turn out to be much more than I had anticipated!!! The guys were practically jumping up and down from being so excited to see me! Jason was holding a greatest hits CD in his hand. It was a signed one, and on the top, they had written happy birthday, Karla on it! A while back I had talked to someone who used to work with the band about getting a signed copy of their greatest hits album for my birthday since it was released just 2 weeks prior to my birthday! She assured me that she could do that for me, but she DID NOT tell me that they would hand it to me in person! That was such a special moment! They took the time to visit with me some after that and Rick (the drummer) said that he really enjoys following me on Facebook!! This shocked me and made me so happy! Of course I knew that we were friends on there, but I had no idea that he paid attention to MY PAGE! That was so humbling!!! Then came Nicole’s sneaky surprise! I had no idea that she was going to bring a blank birthday card for them to sign… That was amazing!! Then, came time for me to give Jason the envelope that held their letter and the coloring page I had made for them. I went up to him and said this is for y’all… He said aww thank you, KARLA.. that was very sweet of you and stuck it in his back pocket! Then , I took my picture with them and what came next was about to knock my socks off! Nicole asked them (again sneaky gal!!!) to sing happy Birthday to me!! You can FORGET IT. They had made me fall in love with them even more when they complied!!! I could not believe it and was definitely on cloud nine all of THE WAY!!!! If you have Facebook and we are friends on there you can see it, as Nicole videoed it!! After the meet and greet was over , we gathered with the hardcore group and decided we would all go for lunch together at Chilli’s. I really enjoyed myself there, and I already did not want the night to end!! After eating, we went back to our hotel to go to the restroom and do some last minute prep before the show. Once we had done that, it was show time!!!! Switchfoot was the first headlining band to go up. I’ll be honest and say that before the concert, I was not familiar with many of their songs, only one or two at the most! Well, I can now say that after seeing them, I’m a hardcore fan! Their message was great and they were super positive and encouraging… A great match up for Lifehouse for certain! About an hour and a half later, it was Lifehouse’s turn to come on stage!! I was SO pumped and ended up getting butterflies in my stomach! As a side note, too. I had been talking to my friend Carole on Facebook for about three months before the show. Well, when she and her husband arrived we realized we had seats right next to each other. It was really fun and nice to visit with them! As Lifehouse approaches the stage, I start to dance in the concert chair and sing along to all of the songs! I cannot think of any words to describe their concert experience other than euphoria. They shut out the entire world for me, and all that matters for 90 minutes is them and their music that I love so dearly. The time went by WAY TOO FAST, but their show was amazing as it ALWAYS has been! Lifehouse has never and will never let me down. Always putting out excellent material and getting better and better with each guitar strum. I really wish I could describe their impact in words, but words are never enough. The gratitude and love that I have for them is absolutely unhyeilding and always will be. You will never see them lose interest in them or abandon them because I simply cannot do that! My heart belongs to them forever and always! Show #10 was definitely one to remember and will go down as one of the best I’ve ever seen!!