A Christmas Conversation

The other day, Becky informed me that she had a "Wow Gift" for me that would blow my mind hole!! She was afraid, however, that she would get this gift for me, and I would buy this gift for her also. I was a bit confused on how this could even happen, but I agreed to not buy her anything else for Christmas, and to "try to not figure out" what the gift was.

My excitement was brimming over as I pondered what it could possibly be that we would both think to buy each other (yes, I tried to figure it out...I'm a thinker, it's what I do.)

The next day, while listening to the radio, I heard this:

Announcer: "Remember to sign up for our exclusive Pre-sale Saturday to see The Who in concert at Conseco Fieldhouse!"

Me: "WOW!! The Who at Conseco!! I'm gonna get us tickets!" (a few seconds elapse) "CRAP!! That has to be the Wow Gift Becky was talking about!!"

My excitement quickly turned to despair, cause now I had to find a way to figure out if that was indeed the "Wow Gift" Becky was speaking of without ruining the surprise for her in the event this wasn't the gift.

That evening...

Me: "Um, I think I figured out the Wow Gift..."

Becky: "Oh, yeah?"

Me: (looking at the ground) "Um, yeah...let me ask you a few questions to see if it's the same thing without giving it away. Is it bigger than a breadbox?"

Becky: "No."

Me: "Can it fit into a stocking?"

Becky: "Yes."

Me: "Is it something that you can buy right now?"

Becky: (getting nervous) "No."

Me: (Out of questions to ask) "Where do you want to sit at The Who concert?"

Becky: (after hitting me a few times in the arm) "Dang it, I told you not to figure it out!!"

Me: "It came on the radio!! What was I suppose to do?"

The pre-sale was the next day at 10 am, so I perched myself at the computer, ready to pounce on Ticketmaster.com and get the best seats possible. As soon as the pre-sale opened, my fingers were flying.

Two tickets, best location, go, Go, GO!!! After typing the security password, I was in. Two Floor seats! I was ecstatic...but then I remembered the Paul McCartney concert at Gund Arena a few years prior, and how Becky couldn't see over the crowd (I could see great, but I am a foot taller than she is!!)

I yelled to Becky..."Do you want the floor?"

"NO!!" she cried back.

I knew I only had precious minutes to get a good seat. I refreshed the screen.

FLOOR AGAIN!! Crap!!

Refresh...Section 9, Row 18. CRAP!! (For those of you not in the know, Section 9 sucks, as illustrated by this map of the Fieldhouse Seating...)



As you can plainly see, Section 9 is a slice of pie sandwiched behind Section 8, and most of Section 11. It's ALL THE WAY across the arena, and in general, the location is terrible. Oh, and we sat over there for Springsteen once, and the sound was sucka-roo over in that area, also.

But, did I dare refresh again? What if they put me in the upper level? Nose-bleed? Behind a freakin' pole!!! I gave it two seconds thought, hoped for maybe a mid-court Section like 117, or even 225...then I refreshed.

Section 3!!! Holy Cow, Section 3!! This is the Grand Daddy of all Sections to see a concert!! We sat in this prime real estate for the Elton John show, and it was super close to the stage! I instantly bought the tickets, and ran up to tell Becky the great news.

She did a few Pete Townshend windmills as we sang Baba O' Reily, and basked in the glory of our mutual Wow Gift.