Sometimes things work out

 Sometimes, even though you wonder what’s going on at the time, things work out for the best.

For instance, this past Friday night when I was supposed to shoot photos of the Alan Jackson concert at The Arena, things didn’t start out the way I had hoped.

I arrived early, as did everyone else to try and beat the crowd and pick up my media pass for the show. Well, neither of those two thoughts were beneficial, because everyone got there early and my passes were nowhere to be found.

As I waited patiently for the box office crew to find my credentials, I mingled around the crowd chatting up people from as far away as England and as close to home as Woodbine. The common attitude was excitement and I don’t know how many times I heard people say "I never thought we’d have Alan Jackson in Corbin."

 As I continued to hang out near the front of the building for my pass, o radio friend came up to me and asked if I had gotten a ticket to the show yet. I said no, and they responded by giving me one of four tickets and explaining how some random man came up to them and gave them four free tickets he said he didn’t need.

Of course I was glad to get the ticket, because at the time, I thought that was the only way I was getting through the door. Some time later, after unsuccessfully trying to give away three other tickets and just before the show was starting, one of the box office people came out and handed me an envelope with a ticket in it.

They had comped me a front row seat because they had apparently lost my pass. No big deal to me. I was going to see the show and get some photos at the same time. I gave the four tickets back to the radio friend, who I believe made use of them rather quickly, and headed to my seat.

That’s when the fun began. I approached one of the security guards and asked if there was a chance I could go backstage with the meet-and-greet folks and get a photo of them for the paper. Surprisingly, they said yes.

So, before I knew it, there I was, standing about eight feet from country music royalty, the seemingly larger than life, Alan Jackson.

He was friendly to the winners and before all was said and done, I had shaken his hand and told him thanks for coming to our town. He cordially said thank you for me having me and before I knew it, I was a proud owner of an autographed photo of the man himself.

Like I said in the beginning, sometimes things work out when you don’t think they possibly can.