A little more waiting
We went back to our places in the front row - well, sort of the front, as it turned out. The barricade between the stage and the front row was ten or twelve feet back from the stage - a long distance in relation to most other venues. As we were waiting for the show to start, the staff started bringing out folding chairs and setting them up in front of us, on the other side of the barricade. Turns out that was the VIP section. A couple of contest winners got seated in front of me and Linda's family, and the band that had played earlier that day and all their family members were put in front of Edith, Judi and Jolea. The two people who got put in front of me were super excited, and turned around and almost apologized for being there! They said they hoped we wouldn't mind if they were standing up and dancing during the show, and I told them not to worry, I wouldn't be sitting either!
We were let into the seating area about two hours before the show, so we had a while to sit and wait. The girls to my right were young teenagers, and they had been to every show at the Big E every night. They weren't huge Styx fans, but they were up for anything! They and the teenage boys behind us were keeping our section amused by chanting things, telling funny stories about what they had done all day, and calling out to all the security staff. They had specific nicknames for each individual (one was "Buns of Steel" and another was "Steven Segal"), and the security guys were cool and playing along. The girls next to me noticed that Linda had roses with her and got all excited, and Linda told them that she always tried to give flowers to Tommy when she came to Styx shows. That seemed to impress them - up until then, I think they thought we were going to be a bunch of old ladies who were just going to sit there and have no energy. Little did they know!
I usually don't put my JY gloves on until right when the show is starting, but as the sun went down and it got colder and we started to be able to see our breath, I decided the gloves could actually act as hand warmers too, and put them on. Linda had me hold them up for her son Tommy and said, "Look, she has gloves that say JY on them!" He looked at them and grinned, didn't say anything, but giggled the cutest little giggle I have ever heard! That's by far one of the coolest reactions the gloves have ever gotten!