FOR YOU: Barracudas in the USA!!

Finally, those four precious words that I had been waiting to hear for so long: "Mom, can I go?" "You WANT to go?" I asked... "Sure..." It was that easy! I loaned Sierra Rachel's cap (since Rachel couldn't make the trip over from Holland this time) and Sierra became our newest cuda-cub!!

We'd be meeting the Barracudas (my beloved Italians) in Charlottesville @ 2pm to get our "lucky" lottery wristbands... Helene didn't have a ticket yet but was coming anyway to celebrate our good friend, Leticia's birthday! Her daughter would ride with her and bring little Cita (Helene's granddaughter) for a visit! It was sure to be a lovely time!! We so hoped for great spots "in" the pit for the celebration... fingers crossed! Sierra was so excited to meet my friends... packed and ready, we got on the road early. News had spread that Bruce would be playing at the rally to re-elect Obama at 3, so we'd need to get bands closer to 1pm to get to the rally and back in time for the lottery drawing... but that wouldn't work out for me... I had promised to pick Leticia up at the airport at 1:50. We would wait for Leticia and skip the rally but insisted that the others go to support Obama! ;)

The ride over the mountain was lovely... the trees just barely hanging on to their leaves as autumn days turn cold... the fog sitting on the mountain was gorgeous as the sun broke through the trees over the horizon. Just one more stop to freshen up and put on our concert outfits and back on the road! We arrived only 20 minutes after the Barracudas! Ale's face was the first I saw, his smile brighter than the sunshine! He pointed me to where the others were parked!

There they were: my dear friends; Silvia, Robi and Vanessa, with her beautiful red hair!! Hugs and kisses, gifts and TICKETS were given out! A special gift from Matteo & Silvia... so sweet!

Oh my goodness and my new Barracuda shoes!! Beautiful!! So much love and smiles it felt like Italy in the USA! Thank you my special friends!! Ale gave Sierra her own official cap and T-shirt!! (She giggled), so cute... I could tell that she understood my love for my Barracuda friends!!

It was soon time for Barracudas to get their wristbands and go to support our President's re-election and hear Bruce's Forward! Sierra and I went looking for the airport which was very conveniently located right down the road... but now time is ticking and the plane is late... by 20 minutes... then more... and now traffic has thickened - so with Leticia-cuda on board we're trying to decide if we should check into our room which is 10 minutes walk from the Arena or pay for parking and get our wristbands before 4 pm... it's now 3:15... What should we do?? We decide to check-in and standing there with our hands full of luggage we find that the rooms are not ready yet and they can't give us our parking pass until the room is ready... so we wait on pins and needles... watching the clock, willing for it to slow itself!! Will we make it back to the venue by 4:00? Cut off time for wristbands? Room key in hand, we head to room 408 at 3:40... Sierra changes into her (orange) "Italian Fucking Die Hards in the USA" T-shirt and we head back to the arena to meet Helene who has found a ticket but is still frantically trying to get through traffic to get there as the clock ticks down... her daughter, Donna, who was just with her for the ride, jumps out of the car and runs down the block to the wristband line and gets her a wristband with us at 3:58pm... #557, 558, 559 & 560. Helene-cuda parks the car and pours us all a quick glass of wine to toast Leticia's birthday... the celebration begins!!

While we waited we made a plan as to where we would stand (in back) after we lose the lottery!! It was decided, we would go to the back platform to help Bruce crowd surf... The Italian Barracudas were back from the rally with great smiles and happy hearts and I could tell it was a great experience for them. Too bad they can't vote in the USA!! :) Ale showed me his number #107... we wished each other luck!! I look up to see Sara Tersetti's beautiful face as she is walking toward us!! More hugs and love from Italy!! What a great day, indeed!!

It's time... and Tom uses his mega-phone to get the crowd lined up in numerical order as we await the lucky (or should we say - unlucky) number... and we were informed that only 500 would be in the pit. Sierra is disappointed that we were so late getting there cause our number was after what she thought was the cut off. I then explained that what ever number Tom called would become number #1. WE all hold our breath as he calls the number: 556!!!!!! AAAHHHHHHH!!!!!! We scream into each others' faces!!! I look at my band just to confirm 558!!!!!! OMG!!! We are going in 3, 4, 5 & 6!!!!! (555 got in with his wife)... I wave to Ale, WE'RE IN, WE'RE IN!!! He waves back!! The line begins to move and we past the Italian Barracudas stopping to scream face to face with them as they celebrate that we're going in first!!! I catch Sara's joyful face once more as we're being escorted in! She throws a cheer my way!! Tom teases Sierra that it must have been her luck cause I'm never this lucky!! I share a quick hello with Tony as we enter the pit and he, too is surprised at my luck... but my luck was just about to get BETTER!! #1 & 2 go to the front corner leaving the center platform wide open for Barracudas!!!! BARRACUDAS FRONT & CENTER!!!

We rejoice and my head spins with excitement... I try to calm my nerves... I get on my tippy toes and search for the orange "Italian Fucking Die Hard" T-shirts and finally I spot Silvia in front of the platform to the left!! BARRACUDAS LEFT FRONT!!! Lights go down... music begins... and there he is... the icing on Leticia's birthday cake!!