Garth Brooks is, by far, my favorite country artist of all time. In fact, he is the very reason why I started listening to country music. I was flipping through the stations while driving into my part time gig late one night and his "More Than a Memory" came on. Not only did I stop to listen to the whole song, but I left it on the country station.
Since then the country station is on in my car 99% of the time. I've come to love many more artists, but Garth has remained at the top for me. When he came out of his temporary retirement and started touring again, I held my breath waiting for him to come to my area. When tickets went on sale, I had three devices up and running and ready for ticket battle. I lost.
That was about a year ago. Fast forward to earlier this week when Garth announced a fourth show added to Philly. It would be about a two hour hike for me, but it was the closest it was going to get. Tickets went on sale yesterday at 10am. Tag teaming two devices, I was able to secure two tickets to floor seats!!! I thought I was going to die of happiness and excitement!! I had waited so long and I was finally going to see Garth Brooks in concert!! And not just Garth, but also his beautiful wife, Trisha Yearwood, TOGETHER!!! I was beside myself!!
I went to put the event on my calendar, and to my horror, my calendar revealed that I was out town. OUT. OF. TOWN. Not only was I out of town, but I wasn't even in the same country! In fact, not even on the same continent! I heard my heart shatter. I mean, I think I literally heard the cracks and tearing of my breaking heart.
In my haste and over-excitement, I completely forgot to confirm the date before purchasing the tickets. There was no way out of it. There was no way I could go unless I can figure out how to be on two continents at the same time. There was only one thing to do, I had to give up the tickets.
After drying my eyes, I started to peruse the comments under the concert post on Garth's page to see if there was someone who wasn't able to get tickets. I figured I'd reach out to them to see if they would be interested in purchasing the tickets from me. I would only charge the total price of what I paid.
While reading through some of the comments, one in particular stood out to me and tugged at my heart. It was from a woman named Cindi, who was also a big fan. I'd even confess that she's a bigger fan than me since she's loved him much longer. She talked about how she's always wanted to go to his concert but couldn't afford to before because of having to raise three boys on her own, and still can't afford to now because all of her finances were going towards her battle with cancer.
My heart reached out to her, so I clicked on her profile to see if her circumstances were real. Sure enough, there were her three boys, all grown up. And there's her diagnoses and struggle with stage 3 breast cancer. Immediately I knew I wanted to give her the tickets. I thought the tickets would make her smile, if only for a short time. So, I reached out to her under her comment.
Her response was more than I had expected. I knew she would be excited, but her utter disbelief and appreciation was just heartwarming. I knew right away I made the right choice and chose the perfect recipient.
We exchanged information through private message and I sent her the receipt of the ticket purchase, just to put her mind at ease that this was really happening and it wasn't a hoax. I assured her that I would send her the e-tickets as soon as I received them. She thanked me again and I thought that was that.
Several hours later I received a notification that she had tagged me in a post. I went to read it, and my heart just about exploded. I hardly knew how to respond.
I was just aiming to put a smile on her face. My brother-in-law fought and beat Hodgkin's Lymphoma twice, so I understood her financial struggles and a little bit of the emotional and psychological pain she must be going through. I thought the tickets would give her a chance to have a little fun and take her mind off things. I never expected the reaction that she had. After she opened up and talked about all that she has been through and how much the tickets meant to her, I knew I was meant to buy those tickets on the wrong day. I knew they were meant to be for her.
My husband returned home late that night from a business trip, kissed me in my half asleep state and said, "You made someone's dream come true."
I never thought of it that way. I just meant to make her smile. I never realized that such a small act of kindness would make such an incredible impact. It's humbling to say the least, and it will inspire me for the rest of my life. In the end, this simple act of kindness impacted me just as much as it did Cindi.
Update:
Cindi went to the Garth Brooks concert with one of her sons. The tickets I gave her were floor seats, 15 rows from the stage. She made a sign that read "An act of kindness brought me to you" and brought it to the concert. It must have caught the attention of some of the event staff, because by the end of the night, she was moved to the area where the staff were and was able to see Garth up close.
