In the great spirit of the Thanksgiving season, I’d like to take a moment to quit being selfish in my celeb hunting ways and actually stalk for a good cause: to thank my wife. That may sound strange since I’m actually still stalking people, but the motivation and the intention is there and isn’t that what the holiday season is all about?

 

 

As I was chatting with a stalker comrade the other day, he pointed to a couple of women walking by and said “she’s one of the Indigo Girls.” I wasn’t sure if he was kidding (remember, I never believe anything) so I googled her picture to confirm and yep, it was Emily Saliers. I like a few of the band’s songs and although she’s no Gladys Knight – they do a really good rendition of Midnight Train to Georgia (sadly, no Pips were included).

 

 

I don’t normally like to think of other people because it’s a lot of effort and at the core of it I’m somewhat selfish, but my wife is kind of amazing! She’s been a long-time fan of the Indigo Girls since before college so I thought it might be cool to get a picture for her. Naturally, in all my overthinking and googling to confirm – Emily was Indigoing on her merry old way. She was halfway down the block by now, so I did the only thing I could do in that situation: I ran.

 

 

 

 

I’ll concede that maybe not everyone would have ran down the block after her at that point, but don’t judge me – who hasn’t chased an Indigo Girl at least once in their life? I can’t help it – my spidey stalker senses kicked in and I finally caught up to them at the corner. I introduced myself to Emily, but once I opened my mouth the non-stop verbal onslaught of nonsense just came pouring out like a waterfall. I told her what a huge fan my wife Abbey was and that she was actually in the car on the way to the city as we were taking the kids to see Aladdin and she’s loved your music since we were in college and then asked if she wouldn’t mind taking a picture with me. I felt bad bothering her and I’m sure both her and her assistant thought I was a lunatic, but she couldn’t have been cooler. Her assistant snapped a few pictures (thus them coming out OK) and then suggested we take a video message to send to my wife. Who does that? Seriously – how cool is that? The only thing that could have been better would have been her taking out her guitar and strumming a melody, but she’s not a strolling minstrel for God’s sake.

She was so freaking awesome and sent Abbey the following message:

 

 

I gave her an Immodium Abuser business card which made her laugh and thanked her profusely as she was so awesome and totally made my wife’s day and then she waltzed away leaving a very grateful man with an awesome video for his wife.

 

 

 

 

My wife thought the video was so cool and really got a kick out of it. She very surprised and appreciative for it, but that nice thing I did led to “the talk” which was basically a warning about the hazards of chasing celebrities down the street. She’s made me promise that I won’t do that again or get arrested, but honestly – I’m unlikely to think of anyone else for the next three to six months so I’ve got a little time.

 

 

So this might not be the inspirational holiday message you were expecting, but thank you Abbey for being the most amazing person I’ve ever met, giving me three amazing little peanuts, and supporting my Imodium abusing self every step of the way and encouraging me to chase my dreams whether I’m soaking wet and chafed beyond belief during the NYC Marathon or hoofing after celebrities on the street. You’re amazing and I’m Closer to Fine when I’m with you!

 

 

Thank you Emily Saliers for being awesome! Here’s what she was recording at Paste Studio in NYC when I saw her: