Meeting Jared Padalecki

Or... How I Nearly Freaked Out and Worried a Nice Actor.


My Jared Story.


Ok. I train dogs for a living. I face Rottweiler’s and Pitbulls and bad tempered Yorkies with crazy owners on a daily basis. Dogs who have bitten people have become putty in my hands. So...I really didn’t expect to be daunted by simply meeting the amazing Jared Padalecki from Supernatural (as well as Gilmore Girls, Cry Wolf, House of Wax, Flight of the Phoenix, New York Minute, and The Christmas Cottage- for you non SN watching folk).




It should have been easy. Meeting Jim Beaver was only a little daunting, and he was fun and nice and wrote like a freaking PARAGRAPH in Erin’s journal, and managed to include the word ’idjit’ at her request. Brat. I got ’To Cindy, Jim Beaver aka Bobby’.... in case I didn’t know who he was....lol....

Anyway...this isn’t my Jim Beaver Story (even though he was very nice). Back to Jared and the Black Shirt of Guh.




As all the Con goers know, Jared couldn’t be there Saturday, thanks to the CWs jerk-wad handling of Jared’s filming schedule. Or you can blame the writers strike for throwing things out of whack, but I prefer blaming the CW, as they are most definitely NOT on my Flist. Waiting an extra day, and having everyone worrying that he would end up canceling last minute only heightened the anxiety of the day, which didn’t help matters at all.




Ok, back to story, dammit.





Jared came in at 9 am Sunday, after having to endure a 7 am breakfast with some rich.....person... who won the auction (chants and tries to rid self of bitterness). I say ’endure’ because for Jared going by Vancouver time 7 am is actually 4 am, and he would have been up probably an hour before that, after a 9 hour flight which got in I think around 9 pm (midnight for him) Saturday night. Gloria (ErinRua) is so right, the guys a real trooper. I love him for it. He was all smiles and energy and stories for the crowd.




Then came Photo Op time. Erin and I are not morning people. We practically came to the Q+A in pajamas, knowing he wasn’t going to see us, then ran upstairs while the massive line up for pics formed. We had plenty of time for makeup and dress-up, then came back down. I was excited and happy and gushing....all the way until we rounded the last corner and I could see him up ahead.




That’s when it hit.




I don’t know what it was, but suddenly I felt overwhelmed by emotion and had to fight a rush of tears. I turned to Erin, half joking, and stated that I was going to cry. But I didn’t, not yet. We stood in line a few more minutes, I caught another glimpse of him beaming away so warmly, and it hit me again. This time I turned to Erin and stated fearfully that I really was going to cry. She agreed with me that I probably would.




Brat.




I spent the next few minutes struggling to regain my composure. It didn’t help when we noticed other women in tears trying to regain theirs. Erin remarked that we looked like old archive footage of a Beatles concert.




Brat.




There were only 3 people left in line ahead of me, and I’ll never know what happened to them, because I never saw them go up to get their pics done, I never saw them move. It was just suddenly, magically, and alarmingly MY TURN. The woman went to take my bags and things and I think I actually shook my head no to her. Jared stood there waiting, looking something between expectant and confused. The woman ushered me in and I stood there just staring, taking him in.




The Black Shirt of Guh is actually important to me. I saw it in someone else’s Con pic months ago, and pointed it out to Erin, how AWESOME it was, and how AWESOME it would be if he wore that instead of the fugly white pinstripe Shirt of Bleh. And he did wear it. I still can’t believe the luck. But we deserved the Shirt of Awesome, after being cheated out of one of our days to spend with him.




We walked up for our photo ops, and Jared smiled and asked how we were, and I stammered out that I was VERY NERVOUS. Halfways through the sentence I almost lost it. My voice cracked, and I think I may have stepped back away from him, ready to flee the room. I don’t think I will ever forget the look of sheer alarm on his face. In retrospect it was funny, but not at the time.


This is as close as I can remember to what happened:

He actually looked to Erin for some kind of support for a second, and she smiled back and claims she tried to communicate through her eyes that this was my big moment, and I guess he got it. He shook his head and said "What? Why? There’s nothing to be nervous about... we’re all family here...hey, come here..." and he reached out, took my hand and I was struck by how slender and long his fingers are, and how warm his hand was, ands that’s when he pulled me in for a hug. A real honest to God hug. Both arms around me. I just can’t believe it. Like a fool, I think I disengaged first, because I was terrified of actually just dissolving in tears. He looked down, smiled kindly and asked our names.




I told him I was Cindy, and I introduced Erin (as far as I know), and then he grinned and jokingly said "Hi, I’m Jared"

LOL!

He asked where we were from, and I think I told him, and I THINK we chit-chatted about snow (we’re from Michigan), but Erin and I are both drawing a blank and what was actually said.




We got three pics with him. He laughed out loud when Erin asked him if we could do Blue Steel and said "Well I can do Blue Steel, because I practice that one a LOT" and he proceeded to show it off (YAY!) and said "But what are ya’ll gonna do?" I found my voice and said we were going to copy him. He looks GREAT in that pic, Erin looks so-so, and I made the mistake of lifting my chin and look fat and old, so....not posting that one, until I edit myself out. The second and third pics have their own problems (mostly with ME, of course...getting old sucks much), but Jared came out bad in one too, and hey, he’s young and beautiful.


Thank goodness we decided to go back later for the Hunters photo with Jared and Jim, that one came out great!

Back to story.




The third picture was Jared’s suggestion- that he hunch down to our heights (not like we’re short, but yeesh, 6’5...). I do recall asking if we were actually short enough to need him to hunch down, but since it brought his face down near ours I sure as heck wasn’t complaining! As we finished up, Jared hugged me around the shoulders, and gave my hand a quick squeeze. Again I was caught up by the warmth of his hand. He turned and gave Erin a hug as well, and thanked us for coming and we thanked him for taking time out to do the Con.




Erin turned to Jared and said ’Thanks for hugging my mom". He looked confused that she would say that, and Erin says its because he didn’t think I looked old enough to be her mom (all ’Brat’ comments are here forth revoked), but I think its just as likely because he didn’t understand why someone would thank him for such a thing, when that sort of sweetness seems to come naturally to him.




I wobbled my way out of the room, got about 3 steps out the door and burst into tears. I had to run to the restroom and bawl my eyes out, and its been a very long time since I’ve felt the sting of mascara in my eyes. Erin gave me instructions for how to not smear it worse, and helped me clean up and head back to the floor. What a crazy 10 minutes of my life. I was shaking and laughing at myself, then bursting into tears again.




And that was our Photo Op. We went back in later for the Hunters Op with Jared and Jim, and I was totally fine by then, no shakes, no tears. We received handshakes and quick welcoming hugs and I’m thinking the hugs were worth the price of the pics. =) Erin deliberately took the spot next to Jim, so I would be by Jared, so now I owe her my first born...oh ...wait...

We’re both pretty sure there was other light conversation with Jared, but we’ve both lost all but these bits. Between being feverish and caught in the "Effect", the whole memory seems dazed and gold tinted, like the lighting at EyeCon. Jared was just as sweet as possible, he was stunning to look at, not as massive as he looks on TV, possibly because I understand how big 6’ 5 really is, so wasn’t surprised. He was slender, hard bodied, warm to touch, smelled like soap and clean laundry. His voice was light and happy and warm as well, and he laughed easily but kindly. He made the event worth the hassle, the price, even the flu.

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