The Day I Met Ian Somerhalder

When I learned that Ian was going to be at the Toronto FanExpo for meet and greets and autographs I absolutely had to be there!  I live in Buffalo, NY and Toronto is only 2 hours away from me.  This is a small jaunt across the border and so worth the ride!  Wild horses couldn't have kept me away.

I hope you are ready for a rollercoaster of emotions because this story has a lot of them!  Our photo op/meet and greet session was scheduled for 2:45 pm. We left my house, in Buffalo, at about 9:45 am so we should have arrived with plenty of time to spare and look around at all of the fun stuff going on in there (Walking Dead cast was there too but I'll tell you more about that later ;) 

We came into the Toronto area and could see the city from the Expressway at about noon.  Our GPS said 6 minutes until arrival.  BAM!! We hit dead stopped traffic.  For the next 2 hours our GPS continued to say 6 minutes to arrival.  Finally at 2:00 pm, we exited the expressway.  We now have 45 minutes to find a parking spot and walk to the building to get in line to meet him.

We see the first parking ramp. After waiting through 4 or 5 red lights we see a sign that says, "LOT FULL".  There were people EVERYWHERE!  We waited through at least 3 red lights for almost every light because people just kept walking without watching the signs or anything!  Oh and every street downtown was down to one lane because there was construction EVERYWHERE!  We finally find another parking ramp but we have to wait about 15 minutes to get up to pay.  Two cars before we are about to pull in to the ramp and pay, the parking attendant puts a cone in front of the line and motions to us "We're FULL".  OMG!!!  It's now 2:15 and we aren't even parked.

We continued to drive through construction and people filled streets looking for another parking ramp.  We finally spot a big blue P and we are able to breathe again.  Because of the construction, we had to drive around a hotel to get to the entrance to this new ramp.  After waiting to get to the entrance for another ten minutes, guess what?  LOT FULL!  We rolled down the window and begged the parking attendant to let us in.  We said there must be just one more spot in there for us to park! No "We ah all fuw! I souddey".  We continue to drive all the way back around the reroute again to get back to the light to go a different way.  It's 2:30 now.  We finally get out of the reroute and find another parking ramp. When we start to pull in we see the sign, off to the side and flat against the wall, "LOT FULL".  

Now it's 2:50 but we aren't giving up on our Ian! NO WAY!!  We FINALLY turn onto a street with empty spots on the street.  The sign says M-F no parking 7:30-3:00....PARK IT!!!!!  We are now about 6 blocks away from the Convention Center where the Expo and Ian are.  We start running!  I'm in high heal shoes and my ankle twists almost breaking my ankle LOL!  I would have kept going even if I had broken it and I’m totally serious when I say that Hahaha!

FINALLY we get to the entrance and walk up the ramp to walk into the Expo hoping that with any luck at all, Ian will still be in there taking photos.  We get to the top of the ramp and everyone is stopped dead. About 300 other people are just standing there.  We ask the security guard what's going on and he tells us that he's sorry and that they aren't letting anyone else in right now because the building is at capasity. WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?  Ok.  Is someone playing a really cruel trick on us right now?  Where is the camera crew filming us crazy women trying to get to Ian with every obstacle ever possible?! I mean, seriously. This can't be happening! I can see it all now.  The show would have been, appropriately name, The Amazing Ian Race!

It's 3:25!!!  I start begging the security guards to please let us in because we have tickets with a scheduled time to meet Ian.  I asked them why that doesn't get me right into the door?  The security guard tells me that he is sorry and that he doesn't know anything.  WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?  

So we have no choice but to wait for another 20 minutes outside in the 90 degree sweltering heat and humidity with time just ticking away on us. 

They finally start letting people in. We get right up to the crossing point and the security guard stops us! We were next to go in!  "Please!  We have a 2:45 time and we've been locked out here and we are going to miss it!"  The security guard says, "Oh.  I doubt you'll make it then."  
WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!? Soaking wet with sweat, blisters already forming on my feet from running and Ian is THIS close to us!! OMG! This can't possibly be happening!  We haven't come all of this way and gone through all of this to end up not meeting him!

They finally let us in about 10 minutes later.  We run in and STOP!! Another line.  It's almost 3:30 now.  Our hope is running very low until we see a line behind the curtain that is right next to us.  I make eye contact with a girl in that line and ask her who she is waiting for.  She tells me Ian!  GAH!!! The desperation that I feel is unmeasurable at this point! She goes on to tell me that she has a 2:45 time also and that he is backed up a little bit.  Our faith is renewed and we start breathing once again! Surely this will be our last line and once we get through that gate we can just hop into his line behind the curtain.  So we wait and we wait and we wait.  Another 20 minutes passes.  That line where the girl I spoke to was, moves and now they are nowhere in sight.  Another lady was in the same boat as us in our line.  She also had a 2:45 time, was locked out, etc.  She sees an Expo lady behind that same curtain and tells her the situation.  This miracle of a woman grabs us and takes us directly to another table that can check us in and give us the wristbands we need to get in there.  Thank you lady angel from heaven!!!! 

We get our wristbands, run into the Expo, up the escalator and over to the photo ops sign.  Frantically looking around as if we can hear the seconds ticking on our gameshow race, we don't see Ian's name anywhere on any of the signs until one of us spots it at the complete other end of the convention center.  Through what seemed like 3000 people, we duck and weave and jog and invade way too many people's personal space to count.  We finally get to his sign.  I ask the guy in charge of the line where we go for our photo op with Ian.  He tells me that Photo Ops are all the way down at the other end where the big PHOTO OPS sign is (exactly where we just were).  UGH!!!!!!!!!!! I don't even know what time it is now.  So back though 3000 people's personal space and over to the help desk. 

We make it to the help desk and ask where we go for our photo op.  The man behind the desk and directly in front of a black curtain tells us that Ian is done with photo ops and is no longer back there. 

I can't explain the feeling that went through me right at that moment.  After all we had been through we missed our SCHEDULED time with IAN FREAKIN' SOMERHALDER because THEY locked us out of the building!!! Very broken, we walked over to the guy that handled refunds.  I told him our story and he says, "Well I'll be? I never heard anything about over capacity.  Isn't that something?" SERIOUSLY?!?!?!?!?  Do you have any possible idea what I'm thinking and feeling right now?!  Please don't add your two unnecessary cents to buy some salt and dump it into my open, gaping wound!  Shut up and give me my money back you clueless, way-to-jolly fellow!!!  I didn't actually say that but I sure was thinking it.  I ask him for a refund and he proceeds to tell me that normally they don't do refunds because missed photo ops are on the customer but reassures us that in this special circumstance he would be happy to refund our money. YA THINK?!?!  I had news for him if he thought for even a second that I wasn't going to get my money back.

He hands me my refund in all Canadian bills and says he's sorry.  Thank God that I am who I am today or I fear that our exchange would not have gone as nicely nor would I have been as patient and kind as I was to him.

Completely broken and lost for words, we make our way back over to Ian's autograph line in hopes to at least get his autograph. When we get over there Ian still isn't there.  The people at his table were selling photos for him to sign and I overhear the lady selling them say, "Ian is still over in photo ops." WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!! You cannot be serious!!!!

I run up to the table and ask her if she can please help me!  On the verge of tears I tell her our story and that we had finally made it and they told us he was done and that we had missed it but that I just heard her say he was still doing photo ops.  With so much compassion and empathy (while looking at us with our red, sweaty, broken hearted faces) she tells me that she is going to get someone to help me.  Now we are alive again and our hearts are beating in excitement of our newly renewed faith once more.  She calls a new guy over, who looked much more official, and I tell him our story again...tick tock tick tock...  He tells me that he thinks he is still over in photo ops and that he is going to check for us but he can't promise anything.  "Ok THANK YOU MR. AMAZING AWESOME HELPER MAN!"

Meanwhile, another man comes over and asks what we are doing.  Yet again, we tell him the story and that the other guy had gone back to see if Ian was still back there....tic toc tic roc....This man tells us that Ian is not back where the other expo assistant went to look for him.  He starts running towards the photo ops and tells us to follow him.  We start following him while running past "The Governor", "Maggie", "Andrea", "Michonne" and "Merhl" from The Walking Dead, who were all signing autographs, without even knowing they were there until later.  

We get over to the table where we refunded our tickets and the guy tells us to wait here.  He disappears under the curtain.  Five minutes ticks by like the longest day of my life.  Finally he comes running over waving to us to come back!! GAH!!! Ian is back there!!!  He's going to see us!! The guy helping us asks for our tickets.  SHIT!  We refunded them because they told us Ian was gone.  He tries to get us new tickets..."Can we just do this after? I promise we will pay we just don't want to miss him!"  I literally throw the wad of canadian cash at the lady selling the tickets and say "that's all of the money from my refunded tickets. Have it!"  Ok. Good enough! LOL!  The guy lifts up the curtain (the exact same black curtain that was directly behind the man who told us Ian was gone-do you think he could have just stuck his head under there to check and see maybe???) and tells us to sneak under.  We walk about 30 feet and round the corner and THERE HE IS <3 <3 <3  We can hear his people telling him, "They're here.  The 3 girls you were waiting for are here."  Ian Somerhalder was waiting just for us! He looks over at all of us and winks and smiles! 

My niece goes to him first.  She walks over to him with arms open and says "Hiiiiii Ian!  It's my birthday can I have a kiss?"  He says "Happy Birthday and kisses her on the cheek <3  GAH!!!!   My sister and I are pulled to the side out of the way of the photo to oogle and stare and take the moment in!  Ian squeezes my niece so tight and says "Smile beautiful."

It's my turn!!!! HOLY CRAP this is happening!! My Ian is standing right in front of me!!! Arms wide open I say, "Hiiii Ian!  You have no idea what we just went through to get to you."  He says "Come here gorgeous woman! Get in here!"  and wraps his arms around me so tight I can barely breathe!  "Smile", he says.  Before I left him and while he still had me in that amazing embrace, I looked right into his eyes (that were only about 4 inches from my face) and said, “I have two things I need to tell you.  Thank you so much for everything that you do for our beautiful world and for all of the love that you pour into it and all of us who live in it :)  And….thank you for giving us Damon every week <3  LOL! Still staring right into my eyes listening so closely he says, “It’s my pleasure and thank you for letting me.”  GAH!!!! Be still my pounding heart <3 

Now it’s my sisters turn!  “Hi you beautiful human!” she says.  

“Get in here gorgeous!” he says, and pulls her in tight for their photo.  

She thanks him for everything he does and for waiting for us and I’m not sure what he said after that…LOL!  We gather up our things to go and he comes back over to us again, gives my niece another birthday hug and gives me and my sister a high five.  Thanks us for coming to see him and wishes us well.  Blows us a kiss and we leave.

If anyone ever asked me if I thought I would ever meet him, of course, the answer would have been no.  There’s no way that I could have ever dreamed that I would get this opportunity in a million years!  Then when we were so close and it seemed as if we were going to miss it, my heart was so broken and sad that I didn’t know if I would ever be able to forget that pain.  Ian waited for us though.  He loves his fans so much and I never felt anything but loved the whole time we were behind that curtain with him.  What an amazing and beautiful human being he is! Aside from the fact that I think God spent a whole day just on him, he is so gentle and humble, kind and loving.  So for all of the men out there who like to joke and say that “he’s probably a real jerk”, sorry to disappoint you but he is anything but a jerk ;) 

When we got up to him in the autograph line we all said, “Hi again!” 

He said, “My 3 gorgeous ladies! Thank you so much for being here.”  Before we walked away I said, “We love you Ian”,  and again, looking straight into my eyes he said “I love you too” and winked at me with that amazing Damon smile again!  OMG!!!  I just met, hugged and snuggled Ian Somerhalder!!”  A moment in my life that I will absolutely never ever ever forget!! 

It was a doozy of a day but every single thing that happened was so worth it!  I'd do it again 100 times if it meant that I got to look into those beautiful blue eyes again and hug him.  I've put a link to the Ian Somerhalder Foundation on the left side column if you are interested in donating to his foundation.  He is saving our planet and our beautiful furry miracles one day at a time and any help that he gets from us just does that much more good for our world.  Click on the ISF banner to go to his donation page if you feel so inclined.  

If the world had more people like Mr. Ian Somerhalder, it would be a much, much, much better place...for more reasons than one ;) Love you Ian! Stay amazing!


Me and Ian

My niece, Katie, with Ian

My sister, Alicia, with Ian

After we met him while waiting for an autograph!  
WE MADE IT!!! Fshew!