Our concert experience!

On November 24, 1998, I was privileged to see Cynthia in concert in Boca Raton, Florida. I went with two of my closest friends, Marylynn Wolf and Judy Talafuse, and we had an adventure :O) Here is my account of our time with Cynthia. Feel free to email any of us if there is anything you would like to ask :O)

The Great Cynthia Story

An experience on November 24-25, 1998

Ok, here goes :O) This is a long story with many twists and turns, not for the faint of heart! LOL I have a song that Cynthia sings on repeat in my CD player as I write this, so I am ready to talk! :O)

First, a little background. I have been in contact with Patti, Cynthia's sister, for several months, and she was so great, and arranged for Judy and I to take Cynthia to the airport Wednesday morning after the concert. We had also talked to another Judy, Judy Gunn, who is very close friends with Cynthia, and found out her favorite breakfast (bagels and strawberry cream cheese) and snack (M&M's). So Judy and I (and eventually Marylynn) were ready for a great experience.

Judy from Tennessee came to West Palm on Friday, November 20th, and, from the moment she arrived, we began plotting some way to get Marylynn from Texas here with us. Through many phone calls and three days, Marylynn was set to arrive Tuesday (concert day) at 4:20, in Ft. Lauderdale. That would give us plenty of time to make it to Boca Raton (usually 20 minutes away) before the 6:30 concert. Sounds easy, right??

Tuesday arrived, and Judy and I were so excited we could hardly stand it! We took showers and, just as I was getting out, Marylynn called from the airport, saying her plane was having mechanical problems and they would be delayed until 5. This was a glitch in our plans, but still gave us plenty of time, right?? It started raining just as we left for the airport, which was not a good sign, but we were fine. It is normally 45 minutes to Ft. Lauderdale, and it took almost two hours to get there, because of the traffic and the rain. We got to the airport, parked, and went inside to wait.

Judy and I took pictures (well I did, because Judy forgot her camera! LOL) I got a really neat picture of the sunset, and we acted silly. Finally, the airplane arrived, and we had a huge reunion! We ran to the car and talked and laughed like we had known each other all our lives, not just 10 minutes. We must have really been having a good tome, because somehow I missed the turnoff to I-95, and ended up on I-75!! So, after I calmed down, we turned back and started going the right way, we were fine. But we had lost time, and we were going to just make it on time, not early like we had hoped.

We got off on the exit in Boca, and I, being the intelligent (???!!!) person I am, did not realize that we were coming from a different direction that the way my directions were written, so we turned the wrong way! We finally stopped for directions, and turned around to go the right direction. We made it to the church, but we were 40 minutes late!!! Cynthia was singing Judy's favorite song, "It won't rain always," when we arrived, and she just stopped in her tracks and went into a trance. We sat down, farther back than I had wanted, and listened. The only word to describe it was AWESOME! Evreything she sang was perfect, and just made me melt. Marylynn and I wanted to move up front during an instrumental interlude, but Judy was still in a trance and didn't want to move, so we stayed.

I got a few pictures, and the concert ended much too early for us. But we had been late, so I guess it ended when it was supposed to. LOL :O) We made our way to the front to talk to Cynthia. Wee needed to find out about plane schedules and technical things, but we just really wanted to talk to her! She recognized us right away, because she had met Marylynn and seen pictures of Judy and I, and hugged us, and it was so great! We talked for almost an hour, and she took some funny pictures with Judy, that a friend of hers had asked her to take.

Cynthia and Judy after the concert

We arranged to meet her very early the next morning (4:15!) and bring her a surprise (she had no idea about the info from Judy Gunn LOL), and went back to the place we were staying, which was a church. I work with the children on Sunday nights at a church that has a wonderful couple as its pastors, and they had graciously allowed us to stay there, because we could not really afford a hotel. So the three of us went to the church, and fixed dinner. We did not sleep, and had not planned to, because we had so much to talk about! One of the first things we realized was that my car was way too small for 5 people and luggage. So there we were at midnight, trying to rent a big car or a minivan! We finally got one, and arranged to pick it up at 3am! So far, so good LOL SO, we get our things together and straighten up the church, then we put our stuff in the car. We head to the car rental place and rent the car. Off to Boca we go, at 3:30 in the morning.

4:15 - We get to Boca, and stop at a convenience store to pick up coffee for everyone (except me, I had juice LOL), then head to the hotel. We pulled up and walked around to her room, and saw a light on, coming from the T.V. We assumed this meant she was up, so Marylynn knocked on the door. A few moments later, Cynthia comes to the door, in her nightgown! Her first words were, "Oh my gosh, what time is it??" and we tell her. She apologizes and invites us in, so there we were in her hotel room!! We sit down (Judy is standing by the door) while Cynthia scurries around the room. The first thing she does is go in the bathroom and put her hose and shoes on, which I thought was priceless. We talk a little, as she is packing and getting dressed. We talk about the concert, and she demonstrates her bird calling abilities for us. She is really amazing at it. She takes her coffee, and we keep talking. Mostly it is small talk, but we were in the same room with her!!

5am - Bruce, Cynthia's accompanist, comes to the door. We give him some coffee, and begin to load the car. We get it loaded and start our journey to the West Palm Beach airport. Cynthia and Judy's planes were to leave at 7am, and Bruce's would leave a few minutes later. We talk on the way, and we were acting like old friends by this time. She talked about her kids, and lots of other things I can't remember now LOL :O)