The Grace and Gratitude of Olivia Newton-John

On October 18, 2006, a longtime dream of mine was about to be realized. A few months before this night, I had been hearing about an upcoming tour by singer and actress Olivia Newton-John to promote her new cd, "Grace and Gratitude". Upon hearing such news, my heart began to race, hoping that she might come somewhere close to where I lived. I found her fanrun website, OnlyOlivia.com, and began to search her tour itinerary. I was heartbroken to find that the closest she was coming was about four hours from where I lived.

One day when my husband got home from work, he asked me if I'd heard that there was going to be some kind of thing at Western Illinois University in Macomb, Illinois that was related to the movie "Grease". Macomb is only half an hour from our house. Thinking he was joking, I laughed and said "Yeah, right." He continued that he was serious, and that I should check Olivia's website.

The next day I was in Macomb buying tickets for me, my husband, and our two daughters to attend Olivia's concert. I think it was about a month before the concert when I bought the tickets. The wait was agonizing. One night I decided to check the online newspaper articles from her previous concerts on this tour. I was thrilled when I read that people were being allowed to approach the stage and give Olivia gifts and flowers. I decided that I was going to make up a gift bag for her. I chose to get something related to dolphins, because Olivia loves them. One of my favorite songs of hers is called "The Promise (The Dolphin Song)". I found two beautiful candle holders with dolphin sculptures. There were two dolphins, facing each other, touching noses. I complimented them with stormy blue candles. I chose a gift bag that was of lavendar and pink pastel designs and yellow flowers. I carefully lined the bottom of the bag with pink party napkins, and then I set the candle holders inside, padding them on the sides with more napkins. The pink napkins represent breast cancer awareness. Olivia fought and won a battle with breast cancer. I also chose a card with a sunset scene, the colors of the sunset a combination of pink and lavendar, like the gift bag. In the card I wrote to her of my longtime admiration of her music, movies and her as a person. I told her how both of my daughters loved her movies and music and when I would sit and watch "Grease", "Xanadu" or "Two of A Kind", they would be there watching with me. My youngest, at that time 7, also loved to dance to Olivia's music when I would play it.

The night of the concert, as we made our way to our bleacher level seats, I stopped to ask a security person if people were going to be allowed to take gifts to the stage during the concert. In being told yes, I asked if it mattered that our seats were the bleachers. I was told it didn't matter. Wanting to be reassured, I stopped and asked two more security people before getting to our seats. Receiving the same answer from all three, I felt confident that I would be able to get the bag to Olivia.

As the lights dimmed and a soft, haunting melody played in the background, the musicians appeared from behind a white curtain and took their places on a stage of white. Images from Olivia's new cd were displayed on three big screens. My heart was racing, and I could see the excitement on my 17 and 7 year old's faces. Soon the beautiful voice of Olivia flowed out of the speakers, as she appeared onto the stage, looking radiant. Her first song of the night was from her new cd, and the song's title is "Pearls On A Chain". She continued on with a song from her movie "Xanadu" titled "Magic". That song was an ironic one for her to be singing at that time, as that was when a few people approached the stage with flowers. I decided it was time to take the gift bag down. Only my 7 year old wanted to go with me. As we walked down the stairs making our way to the floor, my whole body was shaking. My daughter kept looking at me, and I would squeeze her hand and tell her "It's ok."

When we reached the floor to the right side of the stage, a woman approached us and asked if we needed to leave. I told her that we didn't, and held up the bag, saying that we wanted to give it to Olivia. My heart sank when she said that only people with floor seats were being allowed to go up to the stage. Not willing to accept defeat, I explained to her that I had asked three security people if we'd be allowed to go up and told them we had bleacher seats. I told her that they had all said it would be ok. She asked if I could remember who I spoke with. It so happened that one of the men was an Oriental guy, and he was standing just about ten feet away. I pointed him out and she called him over, asking him if he remembered speaking with me and if I had asked him about going up. He told her he had spoke with me and he had told me I could go up. The woman then explained to me that for security reasons only people seated on the floor could go up, but if I would agree to let my daughter go with the security guy, then she could allow that. I told her I didn't care if one of them took it up, as long as Olivia received it. So I asked my daughter if she wanted to walk up to Olivia with the man and give her the gift. She agreed to do it.

As I watched her approach the stage, bag in hand, Olivia singing such an appropriate song as "Magic", tears formed in my eyes as Olivia turned and saw my daughter standing there, bag outstretched in her hands. Not missing a beat of the song, Olivia walked to the edge of the stage, bent down and took the bag, placed it on the stage, and then leaned toward my daughter and held her hands for about five seconds. I started crying and the security lady hugged me. My daughter and I made our way back to our seats, receiving smiles from people. Then to my amazement, as Olivia began speaking to the audience, she thanked the people for the flowers, and then she said "And what a sweet little girl that was bringing such a beautiful gift to me. I can't wait to see what's inside. Thank you." Of course I started crying again, as people around us turned to smile and applaud. I think my daughters were embarrassed.

For Olivia's graciousness, and the security at Western Hall in Macomb, IL, I will always be thankful for being allowed that moment. Imagine my surprise a couple of weeks later when I finally decided to check Olivia's website and see if there had been any newpaper articles and/or pictures posted from that night. Seeing there was a newspaper article, I clicked on the image, not expecting anything other than a summary of the concert. As I scrolled down the page, there was a photograph of my daughter and Olivia holding hands. It will be something I will treasure always and forever. Olivia Newton-John is truly a woman full of "Magic" and "Grace and Gratitude".