Oprah - Part II November 09 2014, 0 Comments

The Show is starting!

The main lights go out in the Verizon Center and out of the darkness thousands of little red lights are glowing. Where are the lights coming from? I keep looking around and finally down to my wrist where there is a little bright red light pulsing on the wrist band each one of us received. Duh! And then the color changes to green. And changes to blue. We are a roaring crowd of joy! And then Oprah comes out in a beautiful red dress and the crown goes wild!
I’m pretty much a cynic but the energy in that space was incredible. Oprah talked about her childhood and her dreams. She talked about her abuse and being vulnerable. She talked about finding her passion and how we can find our own passion.

Getting my photo taken with Oprah!

So this was the end of the first night and it’s about 8:00 PM. There are a selected group of us getting round up for our photo op with Oprah. We’re on the floor of the Verizon Center and signs are being held up to follow the Oprah Team to our rendezvous. We climb up the steps, approximately 5,000 (give or take a thousand). Then we’re steered to a VIP area that is already packed with people. There are tables filled with desserts and waiters walking around with mini cheese burgers and crab cakes. As soon as the waiters enter the space two people deep, their trays immediately empty and they have to go right back into the kitchen for more goodies. Other waiters carry glasses of wine and bottles of water. There’s a line of people moving very slowly toward the end goal of photo! I decided to chill out to talk to some folks I met and pull my shoes off ‘cause my toes are hurting.
Oprah comes out to speak to us! Unfortunately the microphone is not working properly so her voice goes in and out. She kept her cool and thanked us for being there and for waiting to get our photos taken.

It’s four hours later and I’m finally getting ready for my photo. Now I’m rather tired and feeling a little ragged. As I go through the line they take our belongings (so as not to try to give Oprah a greeting card!) and “mark” our lanyards to confirm we didn’t pop out of some hidden corner. I’m next and I see Gayle sitting in the room and Oprah still in her red dress taking photos with the couple before me. I say ,”Hi Gayle”, to Gayle who says, “Hi”, back. Whew; she didn’t remember me from our earlier encounter. Oprah’s wearing these gorgeous sparkling sandals and I’m absolutely start struck. Someone says “go ahead” and I move toward Oprah who smiles and I smile and she puts her arm around me and I lean in and smile and then it’s over! I didn’t say a word to her! Ugh! I go out around the corner and they already have my picture in a paper frame. Then they take my wrist band and hold it above a piece of technology that electronically sends my photo to my email address.

http://meetgreetdc.events.thuzi.com/photos/541cf87ea7600e19782d41c7

(PHOTO!)

I am happy and tired and hobble outside the Verizon Center, grab a cab and head to my hotel and crash. And; scene!

PART III coming up!