Hannah Who?

Sometimes I can be a complete and total nut. I admit it. The truth is that I am stubborn. Once I decide that I want something, I will have it no matter what.

But sometimes my stubborn tendencies lead me to do crazy things.

Let me start at the beginning.

Last week when I arrived at the soccer field to pick my daughter up from practice I noticed that her whole team was clustered around their coach, listening intently. Except my daughter. She was sitting apart from the rest picking grass from the field one blade at a time.

Then the girls broke ranks and came screeching toward their parents. Their voices had reached that pitch that only dogs can hear, so I turned to my quiet daughter and asked, "Why weren't you listening to the coach with everyone else? What's wrong?"

"They were talking about getting tickets to Hannah Montana," my daughter informed me. "But I know you won't let us go."

"Hannah who?" I asked.

"I don't know," she replied. "It's some concert, I guess."

Apparently, my daughter is the only pre-teen girl in America who didn't know about the Hannah Montana tour.

Over the next few days, that name would turn up everywhere we went. At a birthday party that Saturday after tickets went on sale, one of my friends told me her tale of ticket woes. She shall remain nameless to protect her from her daughter's wrath.

She had signed on to Ticketmaster when the concert tickets went on sale and actually found tickets. But they weren't very good seats so she decided to search again. And, bam! They were sold out. In a matter of minutes.

My daughter's friends have been lamenting about not getting tickets these past few days. My daughter hasn't mentioned a thing. But since I couldn't sleep last night, I decided to do some research and see if I could find any resale tickets at a decent price.

Apparently, I can't. Have you seen the prices some people are selling these tickets for? I'm not about to pay a few thousand dollars for my little family to go to a concert. A trip to Disney, maybe. But a concert? No way!

However, while I was searching it occurred to me that I had recently been looking for tickets to a sold out show. We're going to New York City for Thanksgiving break and I had tried to get tickets to the newly opening The Little Mermaid on Broadway.

But before I even started looking at the astronomical prices on the resale sites, I decided to give Ticketmaster one last try.

And I found tickets! But they weren't very good seats so I decided to search again. And, bam!

You'd think I'd have learned!

Except instead of listing the show as sold out, Ticketmaster announced that the site was down due to routine maintenance.

It was about 1 a.m. by this point, but I just knew that those tickets were out there. And I knew that my baby girl who picks grass over Hannah Montana would be doing cartwheels over The Little Mermaid on Broadway!

I just couldn't go to bed and risk having those tickets go away. Especially for the matinee on the day before Thanksgiving. So I refreshed the page over and over. And over and over.

I ate some leftovers and refreshed. I watched Will & Grace reruns and refreshed. I flossed my teeth and refreshed.

And finally, at 3:15 this morning, there were my available tickets. And for only $81 each! That's a steal!

So my credit card is few hundred more dollars in debt this morning and my butt will be dragging through the weekend. But I have my tickets.

I was feeling a little superior to not be in on the Hannah Montana mania. Now I've been cut down to size. But if ever there was a child who deserved to be spoiled a little, it is my little girl. Not only has she been a trooper through her father's deployments but she has retained her sweet nature and eternal optimism. I hope she finds joy and happiness Under the Sea!