my evergreen state: Adios Ope!

Tomorrow is an important day for two reasons. The most important reason I will save for tomorrow. The second one I will talk about now. Tomorrow is the last Oprah show....EVER. Those of you who know me well know that this is a very sad day for me. Which is why many of you sent me texts or called me "checking up on me" when it was announced that this would be her last season. Oprah (who I nicknamed Ope forever ago because let's face it everyone knows my love for nicknames) has been an inspiration to me for as long as I can remember. I can remember her being on tv back in elementary school. And even though I was way more interested in Rescue 9-1-1 and Full House...she was there. In middle school I came home from school and watched her. In high school I Tivo'd her. In college I begged my parents for a tivo so I could record her and watch her everyday. I watched her 20th Anniversary Collection at least 15times. I was/am obsessed. So much so that for every birthday after I got a car, I asked to go to the Oprah show. My parents claimed it was impossible, but I never stopped asking.

For my 21st birthday, when my parents were contemplating the perfect gift, my dad told my mom one day that he "had it covered." Now, for those of you who know my dad, you know why my mom was EXTREMELY hesitant in leaving this up to him (love you dad!). However, my birthday rolled around and he decided to wait until all my family was in town for Thanksgiving to present this gift to me. He gathered all of us into the kitchen to wait for the reveal. He first brought down a gift sack. I opened it and inside was a pink shirt with the words "BERETTA" on the front. What the heck. My dad loves guns, loves shooting, loves loves loves it. I, on the other hand, could not hit the broad side of a barn if directed to, as evidenced by previous experience...

Everyone gasped as my dad smiled and said the other half of my gift was upstairs. As he ran to go get it I could see my mom FUMING in the corner. Sure enough, he came down with a huge case in the perfect shape of a rifle and set it in front of me. My whole family looked scared. I kind of rolled my eyes like I usually do at my father and opened the case expecting some ridiculous pink 12 gauge to be inside. Instead, to my surprise, there was a picture of Oprah and 4 tickets to her show!! I jumped so high I nearly hit my head on the ceiling! Everyone in my family was so confused because no one could see what was in the case...dad came through again and surprised us all :-) When I finally explained myself, my mom jumped just as high as I did. Best present ever! So for my spring break, me, my mom, my aunt and my cousin made the trek to Chicago and hit up Harpo studios for one of the most memorable days ever. I felt like I was in a dream walking through the studio and looking at all of the pictures of past guests. We were seated front and center in the fourth row and I could barely breathe when she came on stage. I seriously think my mouth was open the entire show. She is so striking in person and had such a powerful presence. Her show that day was about Planet Earth, which she promoted before it got big, and each audience member walked away with a coffee table book and the whole series on DVD. I still have the coffee book sitting proudly on my coffee table, as well as my only two other coffee table books, O's Guide to Life and O's Big Book of Happiness. Thank you dad for such a memorable trip! And thank you Ope. Thank you for all the years you encouraged me, inspired me, made me laugh, made me cry, taught me something meaningful, and showed me that anything is possible if you just work hard and believe in yourself. I will miss you!