Peeps before the show


Saturday afternoon I met Robin in Gadsden, AL and we headed down I59 straight to the BJCC for the Auto Show. My daughter Rachel did not get to come because she was sick and I had seen Robin post that she needed someone to ride with, so it all worked out well.

We arrived at the show and immediately asked where Bo would be. The lady at the door told us and she also said that he would be walking around looking at cars until time for him to sign. We headed downstairs and finally found the CW21 tent where Bo was going to be. Debbie and her nephew JT arrived, as did MustangPatty, Brandy, Sherry and her daughter Sara. We found one of those big support poles off to the side and headquartered there, talking and having a good time. Even though we knew Bo was going to be walking around the place, we decided to leave the poor man alone to look at cars in peace!

Close to seven a line started forming down a wall and around the corner. We took our places in line and met up with Shelby, Leah and Denizen and her son. We heard a huge cheer and knew Bo had arrived. The line was moving slowly and when we turned the corner we saw that Bo was posing for pictures, opening gifts, and taking his sweet time with everyone. Yay! His lovely hair was down; he had a huge smile on his face and had on jeans and a denim shirt. Pastor Donny was inside the tent with him.

My time finally came and he knew my name, telling everyone that I posted on his forum and had my picture on there. I can't remember exactly what else he said; it was something about remembering names. I first handed him the belated birthday gift I had made for him. It was a cd containing some recordings from a group from the 70's who was from my area. The band's name was WARM and they were pretty big back then, opening for acts such as .38 Special, ZZ Top and Alice Cooper. I wrote a letter describing the band, introducing the members, and telling what they were each doing now. Bo seemed pleased and said he'd give it a listen. He signed a cd for Layke, I told Bo he was a missionary and Bo told me to tell him to keep it up.

The way the thing was set up was really nice for us. Bo was inside the tent behind a table. In front of where he was facing was a rope with an area for people to walk through. As we Peeps finished seeing him, we walked to the other side of the rope, facing him, and took pictures and watched him for two hours. He is so funny and it was interesting to see him interact with all of the people, especially the children. One little girl came up squealing and flapping her hands saying that she was excited to meet him and he squealed and flapped right back at her. It was hilarious! He had his picture taken with babies, including a family that had triplets about a year old and a newborn. You should have seen his face! We listened to him talk about everything from listening to the VH1 countdown (he said he had to come online and talk to his Peeps to find out what was going on), to Aidan kicking him in the face and him not getting but about two hours sleep the night before to Pop music to Auburn and Alabama to moving back to Helena. Somebody said he'd probably been out looking at the professional cheerleaders and he said he knew better than to do that! At one point he was signing an autograph and SIAS came on. He didn't look up, but I heard him say, "I love this song." So do we, Bo!

One of the most exciting things that we got to do was to do television promos with Bo. There were twelve Peeps there, including JT, and Bo came and stood with us and we did several promos for channels 21 and 68. Bo said something like, "Hey, it's Bo Bice and I'm hanging with my Bo Peeps" and we all said, "Keep watching CW21". We also did Thanksgiving promos. Shelby was the Peep spokesperson and said "Happy Thanksgiving from the Bo Peeps" and we said the part about keep watching.

After the promos Bo stood around and talked to everyone, posing for more pictures. Debbie and I got one with him and I told him that he was the reason we were friends. He said we all have to take care of each other. He answered my question about who JJ Cale is (a songwriter, for those ignorant like me!) and chatted away. The entire evening was so relaxed and happy and as he talked during the night he always looked over and talked to us. I really believe Bo loves his Peeps!

Oh, I forgot to say that his brother on his dad's side came through the line. He was a cute boy, about 16 or so with braces and brown hair. Bo told him to stick around to talk to him afterwards. So, after we had our time with Bo, we decided to go on and leave so Bo could get together with him. I think he said his name was Matthew. Bo thanked us more than once for coming, told us he loved us and he'd see us soon.

We left and went to IHOP and sat and talked about everything and looked through our cameras at the pictures. We always have so much fun together! Thank you, Bo, for everything! Love you!!!

Debbie, Bo and Me. I'm short and had to stretch over the table!