By: Jennifer
Homepage: http://community.webtv.net/jenn681/JennifersWebPage

Meeting Sarah was wonderful. It was July of '97. My friend and I were unable to get tickets to Lilith Fair that year. We were quite disappointed. Then early one Saturday morning I heard on the radio that her and Tara McLean were gonna be at a Borders Books & Music store. I called my girlfriend, woke her up and we heading for that store. It is located within a strip mall, when we got there, they hadn't opened the doors yet, the line was all the way across the strip mall. Hundreds of people. We thought for sure we wouldn't get in. After almost 2 hours the line started moving, our excitement grew. when we made it through the door, we were thrilled.

They had set up a stage in the middle of the store. They took the line and wound us around the store, up and down book shelves, like a big maze. But.. here's the good part.... we just happened to be in the right spot in line that when the line stopped, we were RIGHT IN FRONT of the stage. I mean the chances of that. If we waited five minutes before getting there, that could've meant we would've been further back in the line and not in the perfect spot. Tara McLean performed a few songs (she is wonderful by the way) then Sarah comes in through the back door. It was so neat to see her perform in such an intimate atmosphere. She sang about 4 songs then they set up a table for autographs. The line moved slowly, up and all around the store. Then they announced that her time was running short, she had to get to where Lilith Fair was happening (at least an hour away) They said 75 more autographs then cut the line. My friend and I were so nervous. they started counting people in the line. My friend and I were numbers 66 & 67... WE WERE IN!!!!

This whole time, we are practicing what we were going to say to her when we reached the front. In the meantime we made friends with the couple in front of us in line, I mean, shoot, we were next to them for 4 hours already. well the guy went off and bought a Polaroid camera in one of the other stores in the strip mall. Everyone was offering him $$ to take a pic for them, we never said anything. Then it was our turn to meet Sarah. I was so speechless!!!!! My friend Amy was first, Sarah signed her Rarities Cover. Then my turn. I thanked her for being there. I remember, I just kept saying thank you..... lol I told her she was wonderful and we all love her. She was so sweet, almost shy and modest, which she's like that on stage, you know. She looked me straight in the eyes and said thank you back. She signed my Surfacing CD jacket. I have one of the Surfacing CD's that doesn't have her signature above her picture, mine has a slip cover that goes over the CD case. So she signed the inside pamphlet above her picture, so now mine is a real signature instead. It is signed with a gold pen so it shows up real nice against the dark background.

So we walked away from the table just totally high from those last few moments. The couple that was in front of us waited outside for us, (which by the way there was still hundreds of people out there) They had taken each of our pictures with Sarah, we were so surprised!!! It was so nice of them, we offered to pay for them, but he refused. He even gave us each a picture he took while she was performing. It was so nice.

I would say that day was my favorite Sarah day. It more than made up for not getting tickets to Lilith Fair. This last Lilith Fair, I sat in 4TH ROW, and for FREE. My job is what got me there.