I saw the show on April 16, 2006 in Philadelphia, PA. I will come back and write about the show and backstage in a day or so. I was concentrating on getting my pictures done first. So, for now, I'm just going to write about Michelle in the show and backstage!

It was SO nice to see her on the ice again. I haven't seen her in person in a year, which, for me, feels like years. When she first came on the ice in the opening, I was all emotional, I felt like I was going to cry, thankfully I didn't. I was just so happy to see her...I know I've said that a million times already, but I don't care, it's true!

I loved her program (how I wasn't bawling, I have no idea.) My favorite moment though was in the closing of the show. When she came out, and as she was skating around, people just started cheering. When she'd come near a section, they'd cheer. THAT made me tear up. I've never seen anything like that before, honestly. It was like the crowd was embracing Michelle, as she had us in her program. (totally sappy, I don't care!)

After reading reports from other shows, she was in the closing more than I expected. She came out, did her thing, left, came back when there were some skaters out there, but only for a few seconds or so, then left and came back at the very end. I don't think any different than before, but it still seemed like more than was explained. I didn't like those things that were on the ice for the finale. They constantly were in my way of taking pics. I only missed a few good pics of Michelle because of them, but I could hardly see B&A and Sasha at all because of them during the finale. When Michelle bowed at the end, of course she was all the way at the other end of the rink and facing that way. I guess I normally have good luck with Michelle facing us during the final bows, so I guess this was bound to happen eventually, haha.

When it was all over, we had to rush to the section ALL the way on the other side of the arena to meet up to go backstage. There didn't seem to be as many people backstage as normal, which was good because we could actually put our stuff on the floor behind us, vs being all squashed together like normal.

OK, so again, I'm going to fast forward to Michelle here. I will be back with the rest soon.

At first I don't think she recognized me, I was about to reintroduce myself. Then my mom said something about how I wore the forum gear today (I wore my MK Forum hoodie), and then I think it clicked in Michelle's head who I was. And she said, HI! I asked if I could give her a hug, and she said of course. That's really what I've been wanting to do since she withdrew from Nationals. I just wanted to reach through the tv and hug her, you know? So I hugged her, and I said I was so happy to see her today, I missed seeing her on the ice. And she said, aww, thanks, me too! And my mom said that the program brought her to tears, and I said me too, it was so emotional, I was trying not to cry. She said (I guess this is why she didn't recognize me), that my hair was different, that it was darker. LOL, I said no, it's just really long, like yours. ;) (last year she mentioned my hair too, haha.) Because I didn't have a picture that I took of her this season (*sob*), first I was going to get the MKF bear signed (I should have, I'll have to try another time), but then I just decided to bring the Skating mag cover she was on last year, which I love. I think my mom told Michelle this (the not bringing the bear, bringing Skating mag instead), lol, but I don't really remember it (my mom says she said aww. *shrug* Don't remember!) She said oh, this is cool when she saw the cover.

So then I got a pic with her. My mom waited a while to take the picture because there were people constantly moving behind us. My mom appologized, but Michelle said that's ok. When she finally good the pic, Michelle was looking down. Ah well, I won't complain! There didn't seem to be many people taking pictures, so I got self conscious about taking flash pics (only used flash when I was backstage, not during the show!) when the skaters weren't posing for me, so I really don't have a good pic of her backstage. Stupid me.

So then I asked her if she would mind saying something to the forum on video. And she said, no, of course! So I took that, and it's funny because she starts by saying "take one!" and then says what she did to everyone. And of course, I stopped the clip too early, thinking she was done, but then she kissed and waved to the camera. So I had missed the kiss and wave on film! So I said, oh no, I missed the kiss and wave! And she laughed, and I asked if she could do it again, and she said of course. I said, you did say that was the first take, you must know me, you knew I'd do something like that. ;) So she did another one, "take two!" she said. And I didn't stop it too early this time! Yea! I really wanted to do this the last few years, and I always forgot. And I kept saying the last few days to friends, remind me to not forget to ask Michelle to say something to the forum. So if nothing else, I'm happy for that!

Fast forward past a few skaters, which I'll write about later.

While waiting for the next skater, Michelle came back (the skaters walked down the line, and then had to double back to leave.) I waved, and then SHE came over to ME and hugged me. It was funny, my mom was saying how she was looking down the line to see who was coming next, and then all of a sudden, Michelle is there! I couldn't believe it, she's the best! I told her thank you again.

Hopefully I didn't forget anything, if I did, I'll add it when I do a longer report.

Check out my pictures from the show and backstage!

Watch the 2 videos of Michelle backstage!

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I also attended the show in New Jersey on April 29, and also was able to go backstage. Once again, Michelle was amazing, both in the show and backstage. :) When I saw her backstage, she came right over and hugged me, aww! She's the best! I don't really think I said much this time. I meant to thank her for the videos, to tell her everyone on the forum loved them, but of course I forgot. I was pretty happy just being there. There was a bunch of other Michelle fans around me, so I think I was just naturally hanging back more, I don't know. Her hair was beautiful, it was curly. I was happy to have a pic for her to sign this time (I printed some from the Philly COI show), but I couldn't decide which one out of about 3 or 4. So I figured I'd asked her. I showed her some of my pics and I said, I couldn't decide, pick one, and she pointed to one and said "THIS one!" Hee, I don't think anyone else had picked that one when I asked for opinions, so there you go. I meant to give her the others, but again, forgot. I didn't get a picture with her, and my friend and I realized that as she was at the next person. She promised she would come back when she finished down the line, and she did! When she came back, there was about 8 of us Michelle fans, and the ushers were rushing everyone out, so we did one group picture.

Hopefully I'll come back and write more about the show and backstage. But for now, check out my pictures from the show and backstage!