Happy 50th Birthday to ME in INDY!!

Taking a chance to step out on the porch here and throw a wish to the universe.  I've been in the fan club without pause and faithfully since 1993.  My Ten Club member number is in the 30,000s.  I by no means believe that that makes me an ultimate and amazing PJ fan...in fact, it might be the opposite: 

• My profile is incomplete and I have no idea how many shows I have been to.  I have a box of ticket stubs that someday I hope to rifle through and figure out the final count.  Maybe between 20 and 50, nowhere near folks I've seen attend hundreds.  Why?  I somehow married someone who does not love Pearl Jam!  We argue about the cost every time I travel to see a show, although if it was up to me, most of my 401k funds would have been spent making memories on tour instead.  I was also derailed by motherhood and the life of a military wife...
• I sometimes forget the titles of songs and sing the wrong lyrics (doesn't "In Hiding" have a line about a church mouse?), especially when I've had a couple of glasses of wine.
• I took my only child, my daughter, to the Home Shows in Seattle in 2018, and it was the only time I have EVER left a show early, at her request.  Pearl Jam mommy fail for sure.
• In fact, as I was trying to groom her into a generational PJ fan, I tried playing some of the best songs (IMO) for her in my truck, and she asked me if I had any Metallica after 30 seconds!!   
• I probably have 50 posters in tubes in my closet that still need to be either framed and hung or sold! Hoarder...
• I have photos from the below-mentioned first Aladdin show of the guys' travel trunks in their hotel rooms because the guy I was dating was doing lighting and was asked by EV to run up and grab some vinyl and snapped a few photos whilst in there.  I don't know what to do with these and how to get them back to the band because they seem invasive!

On the upside:

• My first show was absolutely iconic. It was at the old Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas in 1993.  I stood in line in November in the freezing desert cold overnight when I weighed a buck-o-five, shivering because the douchebag security guy made us stay outside until the box office opened.  Went to both nights and at the end of the shows, the first 6 rows of seats anchored to the concrete were crushed flat to the ground due to the crowd raging!!  
• I do have a quilt that a wonderful friend of mine made for me from all of the old PJ t-shirts that had holes in them or no longer fit.
• I have FINALLY secured a personal license plate for my truck that I have tried for years.  GVN2FLY is mine!!
• I have never asked for anything from the band before today - not a photo, not an autograph, not a return hand-written letter. 
• Sometimes people grow apart in relationships, but I am fortunate to have grown in the same direction as this beloved band over the years and loved everything (and I mean everything) they put out.  My soul mate band for sure.

Having said all that, I will be in INDY the day after my 50th birthday with two of my best friends in the whole world.  I decided I did not want a big party at home in rural Nevada, but would rather spend this special day at this show with them.  If anyone has it in their power to ask the band to give a shout-out for my 50th and dedicate a song, that would make my year and probably the rest of my life.  I would love to hear Immortality, In Hiding, or Hard to Imagine.  But I would be totally good with any song that is already planned for the setlist with a happy birthday wish to me.

All of my love, faith, and devotion,,,

XO,
LB